What A Kiss Is
by Jiia-chan
Summary: Will used to think that 'Goodbye' was forever. Now he's not so sure. With Jack's memory lost to an ill-fated deal with a certain tentacled pirate captain, it's up to Will to return the Captain Jack Sparrow we all know and love. Slash.
1. Chapter 1 Goodbye

_This story...Has recently become my obsession. I love it now. I wrote it for about two hours one weekend and then left it for who-knows-how long. Just the other day, however, the perfect plot leapt into my mind. Thus, I have picked it up again. This is an alternate universe in which the second movie doesn't exist. Ejoy. Rated for Will/Jack smut coming up in the future. _

What A Kiss Is

_Will,_

_I wish to be saying a goodbye, one which could not be said before the likes of Elizabeth. I shall be waiting for you on the north beach. Come before noon, if you wish to come at all._

_**Captain** Jack Sparrow._

_P.S. Don't tell Elizabeth. _

Will Turner looked down at the note that had been nailed to his door that morning and sighed.

"What do you want now, Jack?" He whispered into the gloom of his smithy.

He absently dropped the note on the table and set about making ready for his trip.

"Why are you still here, Jack?" Will shouted, giving the man sleeping against the trunk of the tree a few spare moments to wake up.

"Wah." Jack shot to his feet, looking slightly woozier than usual. "What do ye mean, why am I still here? I said to be coming a'fore noon, and it's still a'fore noon, is it not?" Jack looked up at the sky, squinting in the light.

"I meant, why are you still in Port Royal? Norrington is looking for you. You should be clear on the other side of the Spanish Main by now." Will crossed his arms over his chest, frowning deeply.

"Ah, but that's what the Commodore would be expecting, now wouldn't it? He'd never think the Pearl was hiding right under his nose, as it were." The pirate grinned, looking rather proud of himself.

Will sighed, knowing full well that his efforts at making Jack Sparrow see sense were more than useless.

"Fine then. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Jack paused, staring at him for what probably constituted as the longest moment of Will's entire life. Jack's dark eyes gazed deeply into his own, freezing him where he stood. Suddenly, the older man sprang to life, wrapping his arms around the smith's neck and drawing him into a deep, almost violently passionate, kiss.

When the pirate released him, Will was quite literally breathless. He couldn't seem to get his head wrapped around what had just happened. He stood there, gapping like an idiot, while Jack waited patiently for his brain to start working again.

"Uh…" Will blinked, swallowing hard. "What the **hell** was that?"

"Well, young Mr. Turner, that was a kiss. You see, it is something people do when-"

Will cut him off, not really wanting to hear the rest of it.

"I know what a kiss is!" Will snapped. "Why are you kissing me?"

Jack seemed somewhat taken back. The older man cocked his head to the side, as if contemplating the answer to Will's question.

"Isn't it obvious?" He finally answered. "I luv you. I luved your father a'fore you, but I do believe I luv you even more than I luved him. That is somewhat debatable, however, seeing as how it's been ten years since I last saw your dear ol' dad, and my memory isn't what it used to be."

Will simply stood there, unable to speak. When it became abundantly clear that Will wasn't going to respond, Jack continued.

"Still, there's no need to be feelin' any kind of distress. You are your father's son, through and through. He would have nothin' of me, and I fully expect the same of you. All your father needed was his wife an' his child, and all you're needing in your Miss Elizabeth. I respect that, and I won't be forcing my attentions upon you. I jus' wanted you to know, a'fore we part ways for good."

Will struggled to find words, any words, to fill the empty silence that fell between them. Jack waited and Jack waited and Jack waited, and still, Will remained silent. Finally, with a mumbled farewell, Jack turned and walked off to his rowboat, the usual flair notably missing from his step. Jack's rowboat was pulled up onto the waiting Pearl, and the dark figure of the pirate made his way to his customary spot upon the helm.

Will stood upon the shore, watching the Pearl make ready to sail.

It wasn't until the ship was a distant speck on the horizon that the words he had so dearly wanted to say came to his lips.


	2. Chapter 2 Rum

_The revamped second chapter. Anamaria is awesome. I hated it that she wasn't in the second movie. If she isn't in the third, I'm gonna write an angry letter. _

Rum

Anamaria sighed. She leaned against the doorway to her Captains room, knowing full well that Jack wasn't quite as drunk as he was pretending to be.

He was still right royally drunk, though. It had been his almost constant state of being since they had finally left Port Royal, more than three days ago. She had tried every method she could think of, but nothing had come even remotely close to cheering him up. Something had happened between him and Will, something important enough to keep her captain from the helm of his ship. Anamaria wasn't the type to speculate, but if she had to hazard a guess, she would say that Will Turner had broken Jack's heart- for the second time.

"Anamaria!" He barked, snapping her out of her reverie. "What are you doing down here? You should be at the helm! Who the hell is steering my boat!" His words where just slurred enough to hint at the vast and unhealthy amounts of alcohol coursing through his veins.

"Mr. Gibbs' got it, Cap'n." Anamaria replied, moving farther into her captain's inner sanctum and closing the door behind her.

"Good." He mumbled, flopping back onto his bed and raising the half-empty jug of rum to his lips. "We don't want to get off course."

Anamaria took a chair and pulled it up next to the bed. Ignoring Jack's protests, she removed the jug from his hand and put it under the bed, where he would have to move to reach it.

"This is unhealthy, Cap'n."

Jack fixed her with what would probably have been a death glare, had he been sober.

"Most things we pirates do are."

"Ye haven't been on deck for three days. I don't know what transpired between ye and the Turner boy, but drinkin yerself to death won't fix it."

"I know that." Jack snapped. "You don't have to babysit me. I'm a grom wan. Grown man. Bleh." He fell back against the pillows once more. "Maybe your right. I am getting a little grog-logged."

"I'm a woman, Cap'n. I'm always right."

Jack just grunted. He rolled over, and for a moment Anamaria thought he was actually going to get out of bed. Instead, he just reached under his bunk and grabbed the bottle of rum.

"And I am a man, Anamaria. I never listen to what the woman says."

A Month Later…

Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl, already well known among their peers, found themselves becoming true legends. Impostors ran amok, of course, and rumours flew like the wind. Surprisingly, a few of these rumours where actually true.

Among them was that the infamous Jack Sparrow, having come back into possession of his ship, was now refusing to leave it.

The rumour had his reasons for staying on his ship all messed up, of course, but it was true none the less. Jack would not leave his ship, would not even set foot on the docks.

When they first made landfall on Tortuga, Anamaria noticed that Jack was not among those members of the crew leaving the ship. Considering his recent state, she had expected him to make a beeline to the first tavern he set sight upon.

She opened his door without bothering to knock, knowing that she would receive no answer. Sure enough, her captain was sitting in his chair, looking out the bank of windows with the rum bottle dangling loosely from his hand.

"Cap'n?" She approached cautiously, not sure if he was conscious or not.

"I'm not going to shore." To her shock, he sounded more sober than he had in a long time, since long before Will Turner- either of them, actually.

"Why not? Surely you'll be wanting to stretch your legs after-"

"I'm not going." He barked, his grip on the bottle momentarily tightening to the point that she was mildly afraid for the life of the poor container.

Anamaria slowly made her way over to him, kneeling next to his chair. Jack didn't look at her. She had never seen her Captain looking more… heartbroken than she did now. It was terribly out of character, and it scared her more than a little.

She didn't say anything. She allowed her fingers to rest gently on his arm, a soft reminder that she was there for him, if he wanted to talk. And so he did, finally letting out some of the anger and sadness that had been building in him since Port Royal.

"If I go to shore… I'm going to start looking for him." Jack whispered, looking out upon the vast, empty sea beyond his windows. "I might as well be lookin for a Unicorn. I'm just about as likely to find one o' them walking the streets of Tortuga as I am to find him. Still, I'd look just the same. I'd spend my whole life lookin' and never findin'." Jack dragged his eyes away from the sparkling sea before him, giving her the most haunted look Anamaria had ever seen, on anyone's face. "I couldn't bear it. I'd rather eat my pistol than spend the rest o' my days scouring the earth for a treasure I could never find. I'd much rather just not start lookin' in the first place."

Anamaria sat next to him in silence. She didn't have to ask who he was talking about. She already knew.


	3. Chapter 3 Will's Dilema

_Chapter Three. Finally, we get back to Will. I'll switch between them roughly every chapter or so at first, but it'll gradually begin to focus more and more on Will. _

Will's Dilema

He didn't know what to do. He honestly didn't. He'd never been so confused in his whole life. Always before, he'd had a clear goal, something to work towards. Becoming a blacksmith. Saving Elizabeth. Always, always the world had been cut and dry. He'd never really had to make a life altering descision before in his life. Things were so easy when you had undead pirates to fight. At least then you knew what you were supposed to do.

What Jack had done… It had simply never happened to him before. It had never even occurred to him, that a man could love another man. It was so far outside his realm of experience that he could barely wrap his head around it. He saw it everywhere, now, of course. It wasn't like any of those who engaged in such things really bothered to hide it. Most of them were sailors or pirates, and no one wanted to go about bothering the sailors or pirates. They were left well enough alone.

But that wasn't really the issue. He could care less about the sexual escapades of men of the sea. He only cared about one of them. One who, as strange as it seemed, appeared to care for him as well. It was such a strange idea, such an odd thing to think, that Jack Sparrow would have feelings for him, that Will marvelled at the fact that he hadn't thought of it before. To Will, Jack Sparrow and strange were synonymous.

Jack loved him. Jack **loved** him. Like he loved Elizabeth.

He did love Elizabeth, didn't he?

Of course he did. He'd never felt like this about anyone. And besides, ever since he and Elizabeth had gotten together, his life had been like floating on air. Orders were pouring in by the bucket load, so much so that he had been able to afford his own shop. He was guaranteed a lifetime of good, honest work. Life had never been better for him. It was like a sign from God.

But… Despite it all, all his success, in every area imaginable in life… With work, with finances, with an absolutely beautiful wife many a man would kill for…

He was utterly miserable.

He sat down upon his new canvas chair, wearily setting down his shiny new hammer. The shop was dark. Somehow, the shop was always dark. No matter how many lanterns he lit, how brightly the red glow of the forge issued forth from it's gaping pit, the shop was always dark.

"I've gotten everything I've ever wanted." He whispered into the dark. "But maybe…

'Maybe I've wanted all the wrong things."

Elizabeth pressed herself against the smithy wall, forcing her heart to stop pounding quite so loudly. What had he been talking about? Not her, surely? Will loved her. Of course he did. Will had always loved her. And she had always loved him. They were happy.

Weren't they?


	4. Chapter 4 Jack's Outing

_Chapter Four. Mostly an intermitant chapter setting Anamaria up once more as Jack's wall. Also setting up circumstances for chapter 6. _

Jack's Outing

Anamaria was highly concerned.

It had been over six months, and the captain still hadn't set foot on shore. He made excuses to the crew, of course. He wanted to guard some treasure or another, wanted to make sure the ship got loaded properly, repaired right, be certain that no dirty rotten pirate stole it. The crew seemed to be buying it thus far, but it wasn't going to last much longer. They were already starting to ask questions. It wouldn't be long before they started wanting answers.

"Cap'n, this is gettin' out o' hand." She watched him closely, trying to determine whether or not the empty rum bottle in his hand was about to be sent on its way to a close encounter with her head. "Ye can't stew in here forever."

"An' why not?" He looked at her with one squinted eye. "With such lavish apartments as these, why would I ever want to leave?"

Anamaria gave him a look. She could barely tiptoe her way around all the empty bottles and random pieces of clothing thrown everywhere. It was worse than the inns at Tortuga. Jack winced.

"A little while longer, all right? Next time we make port. How 'bout that?"

"You said that last time. And the time before that. It's time for you to be leavin' the ship." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"All right. Why don't you go on ahead, and I'll… tidy up a little, how bout that? I'll make a path to the door!" He grinned hopefully, kicking a bottle out of the way almost bashfully.

"Cap'n, your going to leave, one way or t' other. The only choice you have is whether you walk out o' here, or whether I carry you." To illustrate exactly what she meant, Anamaria cracked her knuckes.

Normally, having a woman crack her knuckles at him wouldn't be the most intimidating thing Jack had ever seen. This was, however, Anamaria. Anamaria was not one you messed with.

Jack sighed and picked his way to the door. Smiling in satisfaction, she took a hold of his arm and helped him up the stairs, more to make sure he didn't run off than to keep him from falling.

"You know, Anamaria, I would have done this on my own eventually." Jack squinted in the bright morning light, randomly groping about for his hat.

"I know, Cap'n. She smiled, plunking said hat down upon his head. Not even she really knew from whence she had gotten it.

"I mean, I got over him the first time. Well, not him, but… You know. And they always say the first times the hardest."

"Yes, Cap'n." She helped him over a coil of rope, almost without realizing it herself.

It was just what she did.


	5. Chapter 5 The Dream

_THE DREAM SCENE. There has to be one. Always. This one I found increasingly entertaining to write. It was originally going to be Will having a wet dream, but the image of Jack all dandy poped into my head and wouldn't leave. _

_Fear the Caffeine. _

True to your Heart

Will was dreaming. He knew he had to be dreaming, because the earth was rolling steadily beneath him. Back and forth, the rolling of the sea. Under normal circumstances, his smithy didn't roll like that. Usually. Unless he was extremely drunk, in which case nothing was certain. This time he wasn't drunk, however. At least not that much. He was about as drunk as he normally was. Which was odd, because he could distinctly remember not drinking at all before a certain pirate came into his life.

But that wasn't the point. The point was, this had to be a dream. Had to be. Because Jack was in it. Just standing there, wearing one of Elizabeth's dresses. The yellow one, with all the frills. The one that made her pass out and fall off the castle. In any case, Jack was wearing it, all done up nice with his boots polished and yet he was still wearing that God damn hat. Will was trying to convince him to take it off and put on Elizabeth's bonnet.

"Come on, Jack! That hat doesn't go with that dress! It might be well and fine to go about wearing whatever you want out on the ocean when no one cares what you look like, but this is your wedding, for God's sake!"

"I will not!" Jack pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. Or at least he tried to. The corset was too constricting, and he had to give up after the third attempt. "I'm a grown man. I can dress how I damn well please. And besides, this isn't my wedding. It's yours."

"What?" Will frowned. "I'm not getting married."

"Oh yes you are. To that bonnie lass right there." He gestured to a picture that had appeared upon the wall, one that Will had seen in the governor's mansion. Elizabeth sat, all dolled up and looking beautiful as always. But she had a piece of dirt on her nose, right on the very tip. Just sitting there. Bothering him.

"She's got dirt on her nose."

Jack leaned in, frowning just a little.

"Why, by Jove, you're right! There is dirt on her nose! Imagine that! I guess we'll just have to take it off." Jack reached down into his bodice, searching around for something.

"Uh… What are you doing?" Will blinked.

Jack gave up looking in his bodice and hiked up his skirt, wrestling with the seemingly endless layers of petticoat.

"Looking for a knife. Got to take off that nose. 'ts got dirt on it. Just has to go."

"Don't let him hurt me, Will!" The painting wailed. "Save me, Will!"

"But…" Will looked between them.

Jack gave an exclamation of delight, pulling a random carving knife out of who-knows-where. The painting wailed and moaned. The dirt was spreading. It now covered her entire nose, not just the tip. Even as he watched, it was moving, covering more and more of her face as it went.

"Got to take it off." Jack muttered, taking the painting down from the wall. "No other choice, that dirt's got to go."

He now held the painting, still whining, in one hand, and the knife in the other. After several awkward attempts at cutting the picture apart, Jack seemed to give up.

"Here, you do it." He shoved the knife into Will's hands.

Will looked down at it, shocked. He looked back up at the screaming Elizabeth, only to find that it was no longer a picture that Jack held. He had her by the arms, holding her tight to his chest to prevent her from fighting him.

"Do it, Will! Get rid of it." He grinned, flashing his gold teeth. "Get rid of the dirty."

Will frowned, looking at Elizabeth. She didn't seem to have the dirt on her any more. It had sunk in, obviously. Beneath the skin. He had to cut it out.

"No! Will! Will! Stop!" She screamed, struggling against her captor. "Don't do it! WILL!!!"

The knife bit into the flesh of her face, only instead of drawing blood, it ripped right through, like canvas. Underneath, there was nothing at all.

"Will!" Elizabeth looked at him, concern etched into her face.

He blinked. He was in the smithy still… or again… or… He didn't know. He was awake, though, that was for sure. His pounding headache was more than enough proof of that.

"Elizabeth? What are you doing in my shop?" He groaned, rubbing his head.

"It's almost noon." She pulled away, allowing him to sit up on his cot. "I was worried about you. Edward Jacobs said you had a bit much to drink last night. When you didn't answer my messenger, I assumed the worst."

"Edward Jacobs?" He frowned, squinting at the light coming through the slats of his door. "The furrier's son?" Elizabeth nodded. " Strange. I don't remember him being there."

Elizabeth sighed.

"You wouldn't. He showed up just in time to carry you home."

"Oh." Will winced.

Elizabeth could tolerate his new-found habit, to a point. She had come to believe that it was all men's doom to fall into the bottle sooner or later. Still, she had a point after which she just couldn't tolerate him any longer.

"What's gotten into you, Will? You used to be such a… well, **nice** boy. You didn't drink at all." She paused, looking hurt. "It's me, isn't it? It's me that's made you drink." She looked away, tears welling in her eyes.

"No, Elizabeth! It's not you at all! In fact, it has almost absolutely nothing to do with you in any way." He pulled her to his chest, letting her cry against his shoulder. "I just need to figure out some things before we get married, all right?"

Elizabeth sighed, taking a deep breath.

"All right, Will. I've waited for you eleven years. I can wait for you a little longer. But no more drinking, all right? You know how I hate it."

"I know." He sighed. "I know."


	6. Chapter 6 What I Did

_Sorry to keep you all waiting! I've actually had this written out for the last... Month. But I've been about as busy as the last male bunny on earth would be. Which is really, really busy. So, here you are. Chapter 6. I actually have the plot all worked out now. I just need to write it all. Please be patient. Reviews help. Reviews help a lot. Domo Arigato, and enjoy. _

"God damn it, Anamaria!" Jack shouted, gesturing widely and knocking a bottle of his desk. "You know me better than that!"

"Aye, I do." Anamaria glared at him, arms folded across her slender chest. "That's why I let ye do it."

"That's no excu-" Jack stopped mid-sentence, apparently just realizing what she'd said. "You… You LET me do it?"

"Aye." Anamaria looked him right in the eye, not budging, not even under that piercing, unbelieving stare. "If there's one thing I learned about ye in all these years, it's that ye take yer solace in yer vices. If I had stopped you, you would still be drunk out o' your wits."

"As opposed to wishing I were drunk out of my wits?" he grumbled, flopping down on the edge of his bed.

"Aye." She quietly walked over and joined him, making sure to sit a respectable distance away.

"But… surely being a drunk is preferable to being a… a…" He shook his head, attempting to run his hand through his hair.

"Well… now ye're not either." Anamaria sighed.

"What?" Jack blinked his large black eyes, confused.

"Now ye've ceased to be a drunk, at least for the time bein', and ye've never been one to attack the unwillin' at least to my knowin'."

"You… he… it… I?" Jack blinked, his slender eyebrows arching up to new heights, even to his wide range of expression. "It wasn't… I didn't…?"

"No." Anamaria sighed again, putting her hand on his shoulder. To tell the truth, it was more to restrict his reaction than to offer comfort. "I paid 'im to take you aside. I don' know what the li'l runt hoped to achieve, tryin' to make ye feel all guilty. T'was a stupid move t' make. Next time I see that whore, I'm gonna give 'im a good lashin'."

Jack stared at her, his expression a tremulous mix of anger, shock and more than a little confusion. He opened his mouth and closed it again, doing a fair imitation of a goldfish. He finally turned away, pressing one of his surprisingly delicate fingers to his lips.

"So I'm guessing the hat was your idea?"

Anamaria just grinned.

"It was the hat that did it, you know. It's always the hat." Jack shook his head, placing his hand upon the top of his matted hand as if absently looking for his own chapeau. "Will had great taste in hats."

Anamaria couldn't help but laugh. Despite his earlier anger, she was sincerely relieved. Jack had finally said the blacksmith's name, after more than six months of 'he's and 'him's. He was making progress. Slowly but surely, he was working his way back to the pirate they all knew and loved. A little more help, a few nudges in the right direction, a few more nights with the myriad whores of Tortuga, and he'd be all right.

Somehow, Jack always was.

_Mwahahaha. Don't ask. I think that I shall go draw something for this now. Probably the hat. The one Jack mentions. It's cool. With a feather. A macaw feather. _

_On to Chapter 7!_


	7. Chapter 7 The Dream Revisited

_And now we return to our dear William. His dreams are INCREDIBLY fun to write. Dreams usually are. I like dream sequences. Expect many to come. Ch. 8 isn't finished yet, but I plan to have it up soon. Please be patient! Thanks._

The dreams were getting more and more bizarre. They had been pretty strange to start with, but now Will was beginning to wonder if he was losing his mind.

He dreamt that he was on the Pearl again, rocking back and forth with the sea. He was in a hammock. Probably the same one he spent his long haul on the ship in. The warped boards above his head certainly seemed similar. And then, very suddenly, he rocked and rolled right over on top of the person in the hammock beneath him.

Jack.

The pirate grinned and wrapped his arms around him, cuddling him like he was some strange overgrown child's doll. He found himself crushed in next to Jack, warm and tight and strangely comfortable.

"Why, hello, luv. So nice of you to drop by."

And then the pirate kissed him. Not like he'd kissed Elizabeth, not by a long shot. The kind of kiss Jack gave him was the kind of kiss you simply did not do in public.

Jack pulled back, smiling. He took a lock of Will's hair in his hand, twirling it around his finger. Except it was too long. And blond.

Elizabeth's hair.

As if dreaming he was kissing Jack Sparrow wasn't bad, enough, he dreamt he was Elizabeth while doing it.

The next dream, they were on some strange little island, the resident fauna half-consumed by flames. They were lying on the beach next to a large bon-fire, drinking rum.

"I didn't know you drank, boy." Jack grunted, taking another swig.

"I took it up recently. For my health." Will muttered, draining a quarter of the bottle in one long gulp.

"Mental or physical?" Jack looked up at him, grinning widely at an as yet unknown joke. "'Cause a good shag with yours truly has been known to cure both."

Will laughed.

"Oh, really now? I might just have to try that, then."

And then they kissed. And kissed and kissed and kissed and Jack's hand had only just made it's agonizing way into his trousers when his apprentice woke him up.

And then, he'd had the very same dream, only it was Elizabeth sitting next to him, with her hand…

Needless to say, it wasn't doing anything good for his nerves.

He needed to make a decision, that was clear. He needed to figure out what he wanted to do. Elizabeth was as understanding as one could expect under the circumstances. She was frustrated with him, that he wouldn't tell her what was going on. For the most part, he'd stopped his all-day drinking binges, which seemed to appease her. Still, he knew that, after a while, she would have no more extra time to give him. They weren't getting any younger, whiling away the months in a pointless courtship that really served no functional meaning. After a certain point, they'd have to just call the whole thing off. And then Elizabeth would marry Norrington, and he'd be left with…

With Jack.

He woke up from yet another dream, his trousers-strings strained.

"Stupid bloody pirate." Will moaned.

He rolled over to take care of the problem.

Elizabeth sat in the shadows, behind the bellows. She knew full well what Will was doing. She also knew, beyond a doubt, that the 'stupid bloody pirate' was not her.

Not her at all.

_Mwahahaha. And now she knows! How will Elizabeth react? How will Will react to her reaction?! AND WHAT IS UP WITH JACK?!?! Find out in the next exciting instalment of WAKI!_


	8. Chapter 8 Davy Jones

Waki 8

_This chapter was a bitch and a half to write, I tell you. I started it at least five times before I figured out how to get Mr. Jones into the plot. And yes! Davy makes his apperance! In this fic, Jack has never met the octoman before. The Pearl is a normal ship. He didn't get Davy to drag her from the bottom or anything. And yes, I do believe Mr. Turner will make an apperance as well, before too long. _

_Thank you all for the reviews! I love you all. And yes, I am a sadistic bitch. I know it too. Ha ha ha. Every chapter up till the end is gonna be a cliffhanger, so... read only if you dare. _

Jack… was back. She watched him slip his hand up a whore's skirt, laughing drunkenly for the two point seven seconds that passed before she slapped him. He had once again become her strange, dashing captain, intent upon indulging in all the finer things a pirate was allowed. He drank without brooding, whored without a second thought, stood at the helm of his ship and _sang_. He was acting just like Captain Jack Sparrow should.

So why was she worrying more than ever?

He didn't want her around anymore, that much was clear. He'd been trying to get rid of her all night, going in with whores only to come out mere minutes later and find her waiting next to the door. He snuck around corners, paused at open doors, wandered purposefully into crowds. He wanted to get rid of her. Of all of them. Of everything familiar and everything that knew him.

Oblivion in anonymity.

Maybe she should let him go, just this once. Let him have his space. He seemed to need it.

She was gone. The bitch was gone.

He signed with relief, allowing his smiling charade to drop as suddenly as a storm at sea as soon as the door shut behind her. The whore at his side squealed in anger as he dumped her off his lap. He tossed a few coins on the table for his drinks and sauntered out. He didn't know where he was going, but it didn't really matter. Everywhere was the same.

Logically, he knew what Anamaria was trying to do. Logically, he knew full well that what he was doing to himself wasn't healthy. Logically, he knew it was foolish to pine away for a blacksmith who may as well have been on the other side of the world.

But he couldn't help it. He was Captain Jack Sparrow. He defied all logic.

He felt his hands begin to shake and shoved them under his belt.

He hated this. Hated it more than he had ever hated anything in his whole life. Hated it more that Barbossa, hated it more than Norrington. He hated it more than loosing his freedom.

Because it was like being stuck in a cage, with the door wide open. There was nothing stopping him from leaving. There was absolutely nothing stopping him from just flying away. He didn't even have a watchful owner keeping an eye on him. He had been set free. But he stayed anyway. No matter how much he wanted to fly, he stayed locked inside. Because, when he really thought about it, he didn't want to fly. He wanted his owner to come back and shut the door again. He wanted to be a pet, beloved and cared for, not some wild bird always flying alone.

But Will was never coming back. His owner was dead and gone. The cage was wide open, and he had to go out eventually.

But not now. Later.

When he felt like it.

The tiny pub was no more than a pit stop. He needed to wet himself down before he dried up too badly.

Walking on land always took it's toll.

Jones sat at his table, guzzling whatever it was the shaking bar-tender shoved in front of him. It wasn't like he'd actually get drunk. It would take a whole ocean to do that.

The door opened, startling the nervous patrons of the tiny pub. A man walked in, looking about cautiously. To Jones' surprise, he didn't seem all that shocked at the sight of him and his grizzly crew. His eyebrows shot up, his khol-lined eyes widened. Nothing more.

He walked in cautiously, almost tiptoeing, his stance betraying the natural grace of a warrior. He appeared to be a bumbling, sea-mad sailor, as much of a threat as a puddle. But puddles, when stepped upon at precisely the wrong moment, could be deadly.

Jones called him over.

The man blinked, pointing to himself and repeating the raised eyebrow expression. He shrugged and sauntered over, seemingly not nervous in the least. He flopped down in the chair opposite the man of the sea, snatching the glass the bartender brought before the poor man could even put it down. He brought it to his lips, but paused.

"You're paying, right?"

Jones just nodded.

The man drained the glass all in one, long gulp. Davy watched his Adam's apple bob up and down, like it was jumping up to meet the tip of his thin, dual braided beard.

Perhaps here, he thought, is another who is in need of an ocean.

"So, mate." He leant forward, the tentacles of his beard absently stroking the rough table top. "What's yer name?"

_Next chapter... William makes a choice! OH MY GOD! WILL THE MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!?!?!?_

_Will: Oh, shut up. I'm pertectly self sufficient. I can make desicions on my own._

_Jiia: No you can't._

_Will: You're right, I can't! I'm a horrible person!! Bawl_

_Sigh... See you next time!_


	9. Chapter 9 Will's Decision

WAKI 9

_Oh yes... The Infamous chapter... The chapter I have not yet had ANYONE read... If it doesn't make any sense, blame that. Also, about halfway through I realized that I had written this same thing four times. Thus, I got the plot moving again. Hopefully it's satisfactory. _

Something had to be done.

Will couldn't live like this any more. He hated feeling guilty all the time. He hated seeing Elizabeth and thinking of Jack, and thinking of Jack and seeing Elizabeth. He hated his night mares and his day dreams. He hated how his heart felt every time a ship came into port.

He needed to make a choice.

It was increasingly obvious to him that he loved Jack. At the very least, he lusted for the older man. That really wasn't the issue. If that had been all there was, he wouldn't have been left standing all alone on a beach. It was so much more complicated.

Because he loved Elizabeth. He really did. He looked at her and, in between the waves of guilt, felt all warm and fuzzy and genuinely content. He loved her. Just like he said.

But that wasn't going to be enough to make him happy.

He wanted so desperately to be out at sea. He wanted to feel the waves beneath his feet, the cold sting of the spray on his face. He had fallen in love with the sea during his adventures. The old smithy would never feel right again. He wanted the freedom, wanted the total ecstasy of flying over the open ocean, nothing around him for miles. He wanted to be with Jack.

But he loved Elizabeth too, and he'd already promised to stay with her forever. He'd made his vows to her already, proposed to spend the rest of his life with her. He couldn't go back on them now. And he wanted her to be happy, he really did. So he'd stay. He'd remain in Port Royal, despite the callings of his heart.

But… Would that be enough to make Elizabeth happy? To be married to a man divided… That wasn't fair. She deserved to marry someone who could love her, and only her. Someone who wouldn't awake to dreams of a pirate. He needed to make a resolution, to put Jack behind him, out of his life.

As to how he was to go about that, he had no idea.

Elizabeth had suspected it all along. She had seen the way Will looked at Jack, seen the furtive glances, the many moments when their hands touched just a little too long. She denied it, of course. Not her Will. Never HER Will. He was far too proper to fancy a man, let alone a pirate.

But perhaps… Perhaps he was so very overly polite in order to make up for the complete impropriety of his inner-most soul.

She had to admit, it was a rather romantic notion. Two dashing, handsome men meet at sea, all alone on a big old pirate ship for uncounted months. Will would resist at first, of course, but Jack would have had his way with him eventually. With Jack, it was only a matter of time.

And so, she made Will's decision for him, without even knowing there was one to be made.

"What do you mean, you love him?!?!" Governor Swann gaped, his jaw hitting the top of his lace coat. "He's a man! And you're a man!"

Will flushed and shuffled uncomfortably.

"I'm aware of that, sir. That's why I came to you first, sir. I would very much like to remain with Elizabeth, but… Things need to be resolved."

Governor Swann stood there for a moment, totally in shock. Then, with a sigh, he sunk back onto the sofa.

"Well, Mr. Turner… I suppose there's no way to dissuade you? To convince you this is all some sort of… phase?"

Will shook his head.

"Well, I can't say I'm particularly surprised. Elizabeth was hinting at this, just this morning."

Will blinked. It was his turn to be shocked. He felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. He hadn't wanted Elizabeth to know, not ever. As far as she was concerned, he wanted her to think he was just leaving on a trade mission. Getting into the sailing business. The honest kind.

"She knew?" He swallowed hard.

"Of course I knew. I'm a woman." Elizabeth scoffed. "Women always know everything."

Will almost fell off his chair. He fumbled all over himself, face burning like heated iron.

"Elizabeth, I… I can explain…"

"Oh, shut up." She sighed, flipping a gloved hand in his general direction. "You don't need to explain anything. I know all."

She turned to her father, expertly forming her most angelic expression.

"Daddy, I'd very much like to go with him, if that would be all right with you. It would be a joy to see Jack again, and I do so love the sea."

"But… Elizabeth, I can't just let you run off…" The old man was obviously flustered. He was probably still absorbing what the first bit of shock was. He wasn't ready for more information quite yet. Just what she was planning, Will realized. The little minx.

"But I won't!" Elizabeth exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm for no apparent reason. "I'll be going on a trip with my dear fiancée. That's acceptable, isn't it Daddy?" Her perfect eyebrows rose to the top of her head, her big blue eyes almost, but not quite, tearing up. Gosh, was she good.

"Well…" The governor whined and scratched at his wig.

"Please?" Now there really were tears in her eyes.

"All right." He sighed, smiling his sad little smile. "But no dangerous anything! And no ghost pirates. You know how I hate those." He shuddered, remembering a certain long battle with an undead hand in a drawer.

"Don't worry, Daddy." Elizabeth smiled, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I'll be a good girl."

She walked him out, pulling him along by his arm. He gaped at her, more shocked than he'd been in a long, long time.

"What… was that?" He blinked.

"Well, Will, let me put it this way." Elizabeth looked up at him and smiled. Not the innocent, little girl smile she used with her father. The sultry, woman smile she used whilst she was wearing breeches, so to speak.

"Battling evil pirates from beyond the grave and watching my two best friends fall in love in an awful lot more interesting than needle work and knitting."

_Yes, Elizabeth will remain in the story. No, there will be no Elizabeth anyone. Elizabeth is a pervy yaoi fangirl, just like me. That is why I need her. Anamaria is all concerned for Jack's well-being, whilst Elizabeth could care less about any of them. The more angst the better, right? Anyways, she's a catalyst, as well as comic relief. And it will need it. Believe me._

_See you next time! _

_Jiia_


	10. Chapter 10 The Trip

_Waki 10_

_Note- from this point on, everything will be from Will, Elizabeth or Anamaria's point of view._

Coming back to the sea was like coming home. The steady, unmoving ground of Port Royal had never really felt right to him. He felt unsteady and unsure, as out of place among the sturdy people of the colony as a fish among turtles. He didn't belong.

And now he did. The deck surged under him, pushing him up into the endless blue sky before sinking down into the deep trough of the waves, sending his heart soaring. The cool, salty mist ran along his face like a lover's touch, welcoming him back into their arms.

And that made him think of Jack.

Had Jack been there, the trip would have been perfect. But he was not. Instead of his dark and mysterious pirate captain, he had Elizabeth. She had once again donned the britches and was waltzing around like a young version of Anamaria, bossing the sailors around. It was incredibly entertaining, and probably the only thing that kept him from going mad.

In fact, besides the welcoming arms of the sea, she was the only good point on the voyage.

It wasn't that the sailors were unkind to them. They had had ample warning as to the rank of their passengers. They simply had no use for a 'silly little girl' and a 'landlubbing blacksmith'. No matter how many times they told the story of Isla De Muerta, the sailors still treated them like children. He could understand it, he supposed. This was a finely oiled team of men, who had been together on board this ship for over half a decade. They knew what they were doing, far better than either of them ever could. Still, it was incredibly irritating being forced to just sit and watch while he knew he could help, at least in some small way.

Each night, the dreams got worse and worse. He had thought that, once he had made his decision, the person whom he had chosen would be the sole inhabitant of his dreams. But the closer they got to Tortuga, the more confused they became. He could no longer tell if his dream lover was Jack of Elizabeth. Sometimes, it seemed as if it was both. At the same time.

Elizabeth knew. Half the damn ship knew. He had developed the habit of crying out in his sleep, apparently leaving nothing to the imagination. The two of them had been forced to drop the 'happily engaged' façade and resort to the truth after the first night out. No one seemed to mind, however. At least not outwardly. And judging by the voices which accompanied his own at night, he wasn't the only 'confused' man on board.

In any case, Elizabeth knew full well what was happening to him. And she seemed absolutely determined to make him worse. She would taunt him, flirt absolutely outrageously with him, make him into a giggling blob of desire for her, and then casually bring up Jack. She twisted his every word until al he could think about was the pirate, and then up and walk away, leaving him all alone and very, very confused.

And then, finally, Tortuga was in sight. The ship pulled into dock, and Will found himself standing at the top of the gangway, about to leave behind the beautiful sea and return to the one place he had never wanted to go again.

After he stepped foot upon that drunken island, he wasn't going to leave.

Not until he found him.

Perhaps Tortuga wasn't as bad as he'd thought. It held a certain appeal to him now, an appeal that had fully escaped him before. There was just something about its complete lack of anything in the least bit respectable. The little spit of rock took all that was supposed to be good and proper and acceptable and pissed on it. It gave him a strange kind of childish pleasure. He had never been the type of child to go running about breaking every rule they could come up with, but he imagined it was the same kind of feeling.

And besides, no one would look at him twice if he were to walk around with a tankard of ale strapped to his head. He could bed Elizabeth right there in the street and no one would care. He could take Jack, if he wanted to. If he ever found the damnable man.

Elizabeth seemed to find the place utterly fascinating, like a child at the zoo. She clung to his arm, staring with wide eyes at the unabashed revelry all about her. She had never seen this kind of all-out decadence before, and it startled her. Her naiveté, while amusing, was also rather dangerous. Although the people of Tortuga were not highly observant, they were easily offended, and if they happened to notice her awed observation, they would be in quite a lot of trouble.

"Look, Will! That woman has a beard! Just like in the carnival!" Elizabeth squealed delightedly, yanking on his arm and pointing towards one of the many balconies.

"Elizabeth, that's a man." He sighed, pushing his hand through his hair. He was going to need to repair his sleeve at this rate.

"But she's in a dress. Men don't wear dresses." Elizabeth scoffed. It was rather amusing to think that she believed she knew more about the world of Tortuga than he did.

"Some do." He frowned, looking at the character more closely. "Don't you remember the decoys Barbossa sent out? They were in dresses."

"That's different." Elizabeth pouted. "They didn't wear dresses normally. It was for a trick. It doesn't count if it's for a trick."

"Well, maybe he's tricking someone. You never know." He frowned. There was something oddly familiar about the man in the dress. Something about the body type and stature.

And then a parrot flew over and landed on the man's shoulder.

"JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH!" Will slapped his hands over his eyes, shuddering violently. "That is SO wrong!"

"What! What?!? Will, what's wrong?!" Elizabeth tugged on his arm again, obviously distressed.

"The man… In the dress… Is Cotton."

Elizabeth paused. He could almost feel her frowning, hear the gears turning inside her head as she struggled to recognize the elderly pirate.

"My God… You're right. So it is. You know what? I bet he knows where Jack is." And then she was gone, undoubtedly skipping off towards the cross-dressing mute.

As it turned out, Cotton wasn't the only one hanging about that particular establishment. Gibbs was there as well, along with the midget who's name Will had never really learned. Only Cotton was in a dress, thank God. As to why Cotton was in a dress, the others didn't say. Will was fairly sure he didn't want to know.

"Jack? Ah, Jack'd be back on th' ship, I imagine." Gibbs nodded thoughtfully. "We're makin' sail in the mornin'. It's a good thing you made it when ye did. The cap'n's been pine'n for ye, to be sure."

"Aye." The midget pirate said. "He ain't been the same since ye left. He bin like a dead man, Jack has."

"Aye, aye, climb the mizzen." Cotton's parrot chimed in.

"Cotton agrees." Gibbs translated.

"Uh… all right…" Will blinked. "So… to the ship!"

Apparently, the three drunken pirates interpreted that to be a toast.

"Aye! To the ship!" Three glasses clinked together, and before the grog even hit thirsty lips, Will was off and running.

_Will: To the ship?! I sound like some sort of super hero._

_Jiia: Well, maybe you are. In secret. Like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. _

_Will: Sure. Right then._

_I apologize to everyone for the mental imagery of Cotton in a dress. I couldn't help it. It was too funny to pass up. And it also gave meaning to the random comment._

_Next chapter! Will Will and Jack finally meet again? And what happened between Jack and Davy Jones? Can there FINALLY be some action!?!? Find out next time in the aptly named... WAKI!_


	11. Chapter 11 Jack

_WAKI 11_

_WARNING!!! BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER! DO NOT SEND ME EVIL REVIEWS OF DEATH! The situation is under control. There is no need to panic. No need to threaten my life. Ok? Understood? Great. Now, read. _

* * *

He was so close. They'd been apart for forever, and now they were just a gangplank away. 

The Pearl sat idly in the water, still moored to the dock. Supplies were being loaded on, even at this ungodly hour of the night. Apparently, they were about to go on a long, long voyage. Gibbs had been right. If he had come just a day later, he never would have found them.

Elizabeth walked up next to him, taking hold of his arm again. Not in a loving gesture, at least not the way he knew it. It was friendly, but not romantic. She was lending him her courage.

"Go get him, Will. And don't take no for an answer."

And then he was walking, without even realising it. One foot in front of the other, and he was there, on the deck again, standing on the floorboards that had become so familiar, despite the short space of time he had spent aboard.

And yet, it wasn't familiar at all. When Barbossa had been in possession of the ship, it had radiated evil. Now, it seemed a wonderful, benevolent thing. A thing worth fighting for.

What members of the crew who weren't busy drinking themselves to death bustled about, directing the flow of traffic. He spotted Anamaria, standing up at the helm with her usual confidence. He made his way through the web of people.

"Hello, Anamaria. How are you?" He struggled to keep his mirth under control. He was _home._

Anamaria didn't even turn. Just froze, for a mere second in time. Yet it was more than he expected, in all truth.

"What took you so long, boy?"

"I don't actually know." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Just needed to get some things worked out, I guess."

"You should have worked them out on the way here." Something was in her voice, something bitter, angry.

It made no sense.

"Anamaria… Are you… angry with me?" He frowned, eyebrows soaring up his face in a perfect pleading expression.

"Yes, I am." She finally whirled around, her dark eyes glittering with, to his surprise, tears. "You come to late, Will, you come to late…"

She put her head in her hands and began to cry. Will was mystified. It seemed to be a very un-Anamaria-like thing to do. Anamaria was strong and confident and always in control. She didn't cry. It simply did not happen. Whatever had happened had been something big, something huge. Something he was fairly certain few members of the crew knew about. Something only Anamaria would know.

And then…

"Hey, you! What have you done to my mate, eh?"

Will's heart stopped. He had heard that voice in his dreams so many times. He knew it like he knew his own, and yet to hear it, actually hear it… It seemed to much sharper, the words were so much more distinct, without an awful lot of the slur he had apparently added to it afterwards.

"Jack…" He gasped, turning around to meet the pirate once more.

The man before him frowned, un-lined eyes narrowing into pale slits, somehow glittering gold without the benefit of the darkening kohl. His hair, once tangled and matted into thick dreadlocks, had been carefully and meticulously combed. Not all of it had survived the ordeal. It now hung only to his chin. And as for his signature braided beard… It was gone. It was a clean-shaven pirate who stood before him now. And the clothes… He was dressed as a common man, not the brat prince of the ocean Will had known. Just a man. Just a pirate. Just… Jack.

"Do I know you, boy?"

And then Will feinted.

* * *

_Ok, breathe! It's all right. Don't freak out on me, ok? And don't hit me! Everyone I got to proof this hit me. It makes me sad and angry and not want to write. If you want me to write, the review me in a calm, orderly and flattering fashion. Thank you. ALSO! I have 2 options. Either I explain Jack's past in here, or in a side story. Please vote! I am as of yet undecided.  
_


	12. Chapter 12 Deals

_WAKI 12_

_THE EXPLINATION CHAPTER! This is not one of the best chapters I've written, I'll admit. Dis'n not so good. But it gets the job done. And I lied, ever so slightly, about the only from Will's POV thing. We have a flashback in this chapter, which is really not from anyone's POV. Well, maybe it's from Anamaria's. Then I guess I didn't lie. Anyways... Mwahahahaha. This will be continued soon. Also, I have artness! On Deviant Art, I have piccies of what Jack looks like now. At least, I have one. I'll have more soon. My name is Jiia-chan. Visit me! Also, I need to decide. I'm going to write Jack's past, my version, but I need to know if I should write it as a seperate story or put it in here. What do you think? Review me!  
_

* * *

Anamaria sighed, looking over him with saddened eyes. 

"I told ye. He's differn't now."

Will blinked. He sat up, struggling to remember where he was. He appeared to be sitting in the captain's cabin, lying in what was more than likely the only bed on the ship. The thin rays of morning slid in through the giant windows covering the back wall, bathing the two of them in golden light. The ocean glittered outside, the tiny black dot of Tortuga shrinking away into the distance.

"I'm… on the Pearl?" He asked her, confused.

"Where did ye think ye were, on the moon?" Anamaria snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "Elizabeth managed to barter ye passage. Yer stuck wit us till we make port."

"Eliza…" He paused, thinking hard about the events of the past few hours.

An image of Jack Sparrow, sans beard and hair and clothes and kohl and everything which had made Jack, Jack, popped into his mind.

He started to fall over again.

"Whoa, now!" Anamaria caught him, laying him back onto the bed.

Will brought his hands to his face, feeling the first prickle of tears on the edges of his eyes.

"What happened to him? What happened, Anamaria? What did he do!?"

She sighed again, slumping into a nearby chair.

"He made a deal wit the devil. He sold his soul to Davy Jones in return for his fondest wish."

"And what's that?" Will propped himself back up on his elbows, forgetting for a moment the tears escaping down his face. "What would make him do such a thing to himself?"

Anamaria paused.

"He wished… He wished that he could no longer remember the thing that hurt him the most."

"And what would that be?" Will was getting a sinking feeling. Perhaps he didn't want to know the answer after all.

"You, Will Turner. He wished he could forget you and yer father and everything he ever felt for ye."

And just like that, his world fell apart.

* * *

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. And who might you be?" Jack looked across the table at the giant squid-man, not bothered in the slightest by the random tentacles squirming quietly about his face like some giant, living beard. 

"The name's Davy Jones. Nice ta meet ya." The squid-man offered up a giant, slimy claw, which Jack proceeded to shake, in the way any reasonable man might try and shake a claw.

"Davy Jones, eh? I've heard of you." Suddenly, an idea came into his head, an idea the likes of which usually only seemed like a good thing at the particular time they came to him. "Some say you're the devil."

Jones looked at him carefully, his strange watery blue eyes somewhat suspicious.

"Aye. Some may say that."

Jack lent forward, smiling his most 'reassuring' smile.

"Well then, if you are the devil, how would one such as myself go about making a deal with you?"

Jones heaved a great watery sigh, as if this was exactly what he had been expecting.

"What do you want then, Jack Sparrow? Gold? Jewels? A bonnie lass of your very own?"

Jack scoffed, waving his ringed hand as if to dismiss the creature's very words.

"I've got those things pourin' out of my ears already, mate. Such trivialities aren't worth my soul. Hell, they're not worth Barbossa's soul, the barmy bastard that he is. Nah, I want somethin' much more better."

Jones raised what was left of his eyebrow, leaning in once again. Perhaps this really was going to be interesting.

"And what would that be, Jack Sparrow?"

Jack paused, for just one moment. For just one moment, he let his mask fall, let the hurt and the pain pass through his built up walls, and let Jones see exactly what he wanted to forget.

"William Turner. I want to forget William Turner."

Jones blinked. And then he smiled, a strange, deeply unsettling smile.

"Very well, Jack Sparrow. I'll let ye forget this Turner. Ye'll walk the earth free o' his memory for a year, no more an no less. An then, ye'll come on to me ship an sail wit ou' him for a hunner'd years. Deal?"

Jack smiled, as if the very idea had brought one last ray of hope into his dreary soul.

"Deal."

The two shook 'hands' once more, forever sealing the pact. Jack fell to his knees, all memories of William Turner, both senior and junior, fled his mind forever.

And, standing in the shadows of the doorway, Anamaria began to cry.

"No…" Will whispered, his fingers curled in his hair. "This… it can't be. He can't remember? How can he not remember? He was the one who… he was the one…"

Anamaria sighed. It was so hard to give him comfort when she was crying too.

"I know, child." She put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it softly. "He did love ye, Will. That's why he wished te loose ye."

"But why couldn't he wait for me? Why couldn't he just have waited, for one more day?" The young blacksmith sobbed.

"It's a credit to his feelin's for ye that he waited at all." Anamaria sighed, remembering the fond days spent trying to reconcile her captain's many jilted lovers. "He's usually back up to his old tricks in a matter o' days. Dis time, he didn' go back at all. An maybe that's part o' the problem. His love for ye instilled in him all manner of goodness, an that made him feel all manner of guilt for all the thin's he's done."

"I'm not going to give up." Will said suddenly, out of nowhere. "I've come this far. I'm not going to give up."

The young blacksmith turned his dark brown eyes to hers, determination the likes of which she had only ever seen in those of a certain captain flaring within their depths.

"No matter what it takes, I'm going to get him back."

"No matter what."

* * *

_And thus, a whole new adventure begins. But hey, we're already twelve chapters in! How long is this thing going to be?!?!? Only time will tell... _


	13. Chapter 13 Changes

"CABIN BOY!!!! Where is that good-for-nothing bastard son of a goat?!?! CABIN BOY!!!" Their 'new' captain roared, completely ignoring the fact that said 'cabin boy' was right behind him, complete with the chart Captain Jack hadn't even asked for yet.

"Right here, Captain. Are these the charts you wanted?" Will held up the pieces of paper for the man to see, being careful to keep his expression neutral, despite the pain Jack's indifferent eyes always caused him.

"Yes." Jack snatched the charts from him, eyeing him suspiciously from under the feathery wreath of his newly short hair. "How did you know I wanted them?"

"Call it intuition." Will smiled, doing his very best to be as mysterious and intriguing as he had found the pirate during their time together.

"Well, stop it." Jack turned his back, smoothing the paper out along the rail. "It's annoying. If I wanted a mind reader, I would have asked for one."

"Yes, Captain." Will sighed, wondering whether he should cross off 'mysterious' or 'helpful' on his list of attributes Jack liked.

"You know…" Elizabeth leant against the railing next to him, watching the elusive pirate as he plotted out their next course. "Maybe you should try just acting like yourself. After all, that's what made him fall in love with you the first time, isn't it?"

Will looked at her in a way that probably would have offended her back in Port Royal, but was really quite welcome here on the ship. Any look that wasn't a leer was welcome.

"Yes, but he's not the same man now as he was before, now is he? He's changed, Elizabeth." Will sighed and looked back at the object of his affections.

"Did you think I hadn't noticed? I mean, really Will. The hair alone should be enough to tip anyone off. But that's not the point. He's still the same man, Will. He's just fallen a few chapters behind, that's all." It was Elizabeth's turn to sigh. "Just give it some time, and you'll see. He'll be the same old Captain Jack that he's always been."

Will looked at her, suddenly glad she had joined him on this trip. Elizabeth knew how people functioned, something he had never quite figured out. If she said everything would be ok, then it probably would.

He was about to give the young woman a profound thank you, but before he could even open his mouth, the ship was rocked with yet another call for the Pearl's new cabin boy.

Will sighed again and went running off to do Captain Jack's bidding.

Standing against the rail, Elizabeth watched him scurry away and wondered at the truth of her own words. She had known people to change, but never as suddenly or as completely as Jack. He had lost all memory of someone who had been apparently very important in the formation of his character. What the motley crew of the Pearl were seeing now was what Jack would have been had he never met Bootstrap Bill. Never had she thought Bootstrap had had such an important role in his development. According to all testimony, Bootstrap had just been another member of the crew. The evidence was pointing in another direction, however.

From what Jack himself had told Will on the beach that long-ago day, Jack had had romantic feelings for the older pirate, perhaps much as Will now had feelings for Jack. Based upon Will Turner Jr.'s existence, Bill had either swung both ways or shut Jack out entirely. Probably the latter, Elizabeth surmised.

"So." She looked to the strange pirate as he ordered Will around some more, scolding him for not anticipating the Captain's needs ahead of time. "Captain Jack's a spurned lover. Never would have guessed."

As Will dashed off to do whatever it was he had been told to do, Jack turned to her as if he had heard her whispered words. He raised an eyebrow, the expression known to untold numbers of tavern wenches across the Caribbean sliding onto his face.

Elizabeth laughed, shaking her head and crushing whatever hopes the Captain might have had.

Some things never change.

* * *

_Mwahahaha... Good news for all you people heavilly annoyed at the infrequency of my updates! Thanks to a certain someone by the name of darkestNoir who was angry at me for not updating one of my fictions for two years, I have officially made a schedual. (You know, it's not really that I don't have any of this written. It's actually that I just don't update. ) Expect new chapters on Fridays from now on. Thanks for your tolerance!  
_


	14. Chapter 14 Freedom

_He was watching the sun rise. He couldn't watch the sun itself of course. The window was far too high for a scrawny boy of twelve to reach. The light came in through the bars, though, and he could watch as the beautiful glow slowly covered the mud brick wall of the tiny room, the brightness bleaching all the dirt and stains and turning the wall to gleaming white. _

_He liked the early morning. He liked getting up before all the others and just spending a moment alone, sitting by himself amidst a sea of filthy, stinking people who were less than people. People just like him._

_He sighed, trying to resign himself to another day of hard work in the Master's sugar cane fields. No matter how many years he spend harvesting the tough plant, he would never get used to it. Just like he would never get used to the chains around his wrists._

_A shadow appeared on the wall before him. It was fuzzy in the bright, but he could still make it out. A bird, tiny, and of a shape different than any of the birds he usually saw flitting around the plantation._

_He got up and carefully picked his way through the sleeping bodies, pressing his back against the wall, just beside the glowing patch of light. The bird looked at him, apparently completely unafraid of the tiny boy. And who would be, really? Who would be scared of a pathetic mulatto half-breed, bound and chained to a hundred other worthless souls? _

_"Fly away, little birdy." The boy whispered, his dark eyes filled with a sorrow beyond his years. "There's nothing but death here."_

_That's when the cannonball ripped through the space he had been inhabiting not a minute before, blasting his meagre bedding into oblivion and opening a door where there had been none before._

_The bird still sat on the window. It looked at him and gave a little hop, as if to say 'Come on already! Let's go!'_

_Without bothering to glance at the broken chains, the little boy followed._

* * *

Sorry for having this be so late! Things have been absolutely crazy. Anyways, here you go! The first chapter in Jack's little melodrama! Hope you like it! 


	15. Chapter 15 Why are you on my floor?

Waki15

_Ok, I know that I am supposed to update on fridays but that went fail last time I tried it because I am ambsolutely CRAZY busy and therefore had no time but right now I have about five minutes to update things because I am at school and have nothing left to do. So I am updating and therefore you will get the next chapter. So blah._

* * *

Jack appeared to be dreaming.

Will didn't mean to be spying on him, he really didn't. He had just walked right on in, assuming that the flickering light of the candles meant Jack would still be up. He hadn't expected the captain to have fallen asleep at his desk, quill still in hand. Whatever he had been writing was apparently very important to him.

Will watched the captain's eyes flick back and forth beneath their closed lids, still bearing the slightest stain of kohl. When he was like this, the change didn't seem so bad. With his eyes closed, with his face at rest, with the sharp edge the man had taken on since the loss of his memories smoothed over and rounded out into the curves of sleep, he looked almost the same. Will could almost believe he had a chance.

The young blacksmith sighed. He had left one uncertainty for another. He knew now beyond a doubt that he loved his pirate captain from the depths of his soul. He knew that he'd stay with Jack forever, no matter what ended up happening between them. Even if he could only stay by his side as the blasted cabin boy, he'd do it. He'd never let Jack sail away without him again.

But still, there was the disappointment. He had fully expected to be welcomed back into Jack's life with open arms. After all, it had only been his indecision that kept them apart the first time. Now that he had made his choice, it should have been easy. Jack loved him, he loved Jack, and nothing should have stood in their way.

Except he had walked onto the deck and Jack hadn't even known who he was.

"Oh, Jack…" he sighed, watching the sleeping pirate's scrawny chest rise and fall. "Why can't anything ever be easy? Is God picking on us?"

Jack gave no response. He just kept sleeping, He looked so peaceful, so content. Will wished he could fall asleep, just lay there and dream about what might have been until the sun came up over the horizon. He let himself slide down the wall of the cabin, wrapping his arms around his legs. He lent his head against the wall, looking up at his sleeping pirate.

"I love you, Jack." He whispered.

Jack let out a not-so-quiet snore.

Will smiled and let himself fall asleep.

"Cabin boy."

Someone prodded him in the shoulder, forcing him awake.

"Wha?" He blinked his sleep-blurred eyes, trying desperately to focus on the dark shape before him.

"Cabin boy, you are sleeping on my floor."

Will blinked again, just as Jack was coming into focus. The pirate eyed him suspiciously, almost a little annoyed… and a little embarrassed too. Without all the grime and facial hair, it was an easy thing to spot the flush of his cheeks.

"Ugh… Sorry." Will clambered to his feet, wobbling for a moment as he regained his balance on the rocking ship.

Jack continued to stare at him.

"Why are you sleeping on my floor, cabin boy?"

Will frowned and pushed his hand through his hair. He really didn't feel like explaining right then. He'd just have to squiggle out of it.

"You know, I do have a name."

"Bah." Jack waved his hand as if to dismiss Will's existence all together. "Why should I bother learning it? You're not going to be around for very long anyways."

The captain turned and headed for the door, boots snapping against the hard wood of the floor. Will smiled.

"We'll see, Jack. We'll see."


	16. Chapter 16 Preferences

_"Well, boy?!" The captain growled at him, wrinkling his nose as if the very presence of the slave-child insulted him. "What's yer name, ye li'l yeller-belly'd whelp?"_

_The boy worked his mouth, but nothing came out. The captain grunted, backing off. The boy's relief was momentary, however, as he watched in horror as the captain began to draw his sabre._

_"Really, Cap'n! Is that really necessary? Like you said, he's just a whelp." _

_The boy turned. Everyone did. It was a strange thing indeed for anyone to speak up against Captain Sam Carter. It was even rarer for a person to speak up to Captain Sam Carter on the behalf of someone else. _

_The bold intruder was a young man, not a day over twenty, with long wavy hair held back by a red headband and a set of deep brown eyes that would melt the ice off the artic. Despite his age, he was obviously a weathered sailor, his light skin darkened to a shade comparable to the young mulatto's by the unforgiving rays of the sun. He stood upon the deck of the rocking ship with the ease of long experience, and the confidence of a man used to climbing unsteady rigging in the heart of a typhoon. _

_"An' what's yer innerest in such a whelp, eh, Mr. Turner?" The captain leered, obviously not appreciating the interruption. "If yer wan'in to, I can be puttin' 'im on as yer share o' the spoils. Fin young spec'min he is had got ta be worth at least tha cab'n boy's share, eh, lads?" _

_The crew laughed nervously. Their captain was not known for his forgiving sense of humour. _

_Mr. Turner didn't yield. In fact, he looked not the least bit concerned. _

_"All right then. I'll take your offer."_

_The crew went silent._

_"What o' that bonnie lass ye keep sayin' ye have back 'ome?" The captain looked at the young man suspiciously. "Ain't she gonna be a li'l jealous that ye'd bed a half-breed whelp?"_

_To the shock of all but the boy himself, who wasn't exactly sure what was going on but was pretty sure it involved him and thus did his best to keep up, Mr. Turner scoffed._

_"Bed him? Why would I do that? I have no interest in that kind of beastly business. That's entirely your area of expertise, mon Capitan."_

_Turner bowed mockingly, his handsome face perfectly serious. If there had ever been any doubt about the state of his manhood, they were instantly dispelled. _

_Captain Carter turned a rather disturbing shade of purple, his face almost swelling with the sheer amount of blood pumping into it. His fist tightened around the hilt of his blade until his knuckles blanched, trembling with rage. His mouth worked open and closed, trying to find an answer to the courageous young man's blatant accusation. He finally just snapped his mouth shut, turned on his heel, and stomped off into his cabin._

_For a long moment, there was absolute, total silence. No member of the pirate crew had ever seen their Captain rendered speechless. Ever._

_And then they began to cheer._

_The young man knelt down in front of the boy, smiling pleasantly. The boy looked at him, confused and nervous, but grateful none the less._

_"Hello, lad. I'm Bill Turner." He held out his hand for the boy to shake._

_The boy did, his tiny dark fingers tiny compared to the man's calloused hands. _

_"Hello, Bill." The boy whispered._

_Bill smiled. _

_"And what should I call you, young sir?"_

_The boy blinked and paused. The other slaves usually avoided him, and he was old enough to know that none of the things his masters called him would qualify as names._

_Bill sighed, looking sad. _

_"You don't have a name, do you?"_

_The boy shook his head._

_"Well then, we'll just have to think of one for you, won't we?" _

_Bill grinned, brown eyes sparkling. _

_And, for the first time in his short, sorry life, the boy smiled too._

* * *

Yes, indeed. In this fanfiction, Bootstrap Bill is a random cabin boy who can speak french for no real reason other than that I think that he should. It's probably going to be really bad french, too. Full of errors. But please be tolerant with me. I don't speak french. My only weapons against the horrible mangling of a beautiful language is a french-english dictionary and one of my buddies who doesn't speak french either but knows more of it than I do. 

Thank you very much. OH! And the second movie doesn't exist at all, so in this fanfiction, Bootstrap is hot and not some creepy old nose-man with a starfish on his face.

And sorry for not posting this on the day I'm supposed to be posting it. Although... it could very well be the day I'm supposed to be posting it. I really don't know. I'm not entirely sure. I think it's Monday, but you never know, the world could be lying to me. That's always a possibility.


	17. Chapter 17 Progress

Jack was getting used to him. He wasn't as stand-offish as he had been. He was starting to speak to him outside of telling him to do something. He was starting to joke with him, treat him the same as he treated Anamaria and Gibbs. He was starting to look at him and smile.

Will was making progress.

There was only one problem. People were beginning to assume. Will couldn't really blame them. It seemed more than obvious. Will had disappeared into the Captain's cabin, only re-emerging once the sun was high in the sky. At least they'd stopped the eunuch jokes. It was Jack, after all, who was going about rubbing his bum. Sleeping in a chair was not good for the posterior.

Will groaned as yet another member of the crew offered him yet another

'congratulatory' slap on the ass.

"I swear, if I get smacked one more time, I'm going to…" He whirled about to tear a strip off his latest harasser, only to find himself staring into the glittering brown eyes of a certain cheeky pirate captain.

"Do tell, Will." Jack grinned in a style startlingly familiar to that with which he often looked at Elizabeth.

Will flushed, struggling to form a coherent sentence. Jack had touched him, for the first time since loosing his memory. Jack was looking at him with those beautiful, dark eyes, in the same way he had back at the beach, back when this whole mess got started.

Jack had called him by his name.

"The crew appears to think that we are involved, cabin boy. Now I wonder what gave them that impression?" Jack laughed, apparently taking great amusement from the agony clearly written upon Will's face.

"Uh…" Will felt his face light up like a rum bonfire. "Captain, I… Uh…"

What was he supposed to say, when Jack was looking at him like that? When he was so very familiar, and yet Will knew he was entirely different from before? How was he supposed to be able to respond when he knew he would never be able to let himself have was Jack was apparently dangling in front of his face?

"Bah." Jack waved a hand, as if to dismiss Will's confused mutterings entirely. "Enough with all this 'Captain' nonsense. As if I need to be reminded that this is my ship." Jack smiled, the kohl-stained lids of his eyes drooping down over his dark eyes in an entirely too suggestive manner. "Besides, if everyone thinks we're lovers, we might as act it, eh mate? Jus' call me Jack."

Jack's slender fingers reached out and tweaked his nose. The pirate laughed again, highly amused, and walked off, his characteristic saunter temporarily returned to his step.

Will grabbed tight to the railing, struggling to prevent his knees from buckling beneath him.

He wanted Jack. He wanted him, deep down in the pit of his stomach, from the same place as all his twisted, screwed up dreams. He thought about what the crew thought they had done, and he wished it had been true.

But for as much as he wished, as much as he wanted, he could never have the Captain Jack he so desired. The Captain Jack he loved was as good as dead. 'Jus' Call me Jack' had taken his place, and that wasn't the Jack he loved at all.

He would have to settle for the previously unspeakable acts he wanted.

But the thing was, he wanted all the wrong things.

Will put his head in his hands and began to cry.

* * *

"Was that really necessary, Cap'n?" Anamaria watched Will break into tears, totally ignoring the odd looks he was getting from the rest of the crew. "Don't ye think yer bein' a li'l hard on 'im?"

Jack snorted.

"He's a grown man. He can take care of himself. This is what he gets for thinking he can seduce me. If he wanted a good poke, he could have just asked. He's certainly cute enough to warrant my attentions." He smiled, letting his dark eyes sweep over the young man's body.

Anamaria sighed.

"Are ye really that oblivious, or are ye jus' pretendin?"

Jack blinked, frowning deeply. He looked at her, obviously confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Do ye really think that a right proper catholic boy like Will Turner's gonna risk his self eternal damnation fer a good poke? It's a sin ta them, ye know." Anamaria fixed her own dark eyes upon her captain's in an attempt to force the knowledge into his head through sheer force of will.

"What, you think he has… Feelings for me?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Well, of course 'e does, ye big dolt!" Anamaria smacked him up side the head, more out of relief than anger.

It was really quite surprising how little Jack picked up on. She'd been trying to help Will out for over a week, using a subtle blend of psychology and extreme violence to bring the young man to her captain's attentions. The biggest problem, believe it or not, seemed to be Jack's own self esteem. It had taken her the longest time to convince him that Will was, in fact, staring at him and not her. Whatever had happened between them the night before had apparently convinced him that he really was the object of Will's attentions. Now, all that remained was to convince him that the feelings Will held for him were more than simple lust.

Jack laughed.

"Will might be catholic. Hell, I'm catholic. That doesn't mean that we give a damn about our immortal souls. All the fun people go to hell anyways, so what's the point in even trying?" Jack gave her one of his trademark grins, the dazzle of his gold-toothed smile drowning out the hurt hiding in his dark eyes.

"Cap'n, don't ruin this." Anamaria took hold of his shoulders. "Will's not like you!"

Jack froze. It seemed as if ever muscle in his body stiffened, as if it suddenly required conscious effort to control himself. Is if, any moment now, that control would snap and Anamaria would be as good as dead.

"You're right, Anamaria. He's not like me. He's not like me at all."

Without another word, Jack pulled free and walked away.

* * *

_This is sort of like the Cotton-in-a-dress moment. I don't really know why it happened. It just sorta did. The image of Jack smacking Will on the bum was just to cute to pass up._


	18. Chapter 18 Forever

_"What were you thinkin', Bootstrap?" the sailor groaned. "Givin' up all that loot for a stinkin' halfbreed brat?"_

_"Hey!" Bill smacked him with a pillow, looking genuinely angry. "You don't have an issue with Stevie. Why does this little kid bug you so much?"_

_"Stevie's a hardn'd sailor, Boots! This is a plantation slave! What's 'e gonna do on a pirate ship?" The sailor slapped the pillow away, only a second or two too late to actually hit anything but air._

_"He can learn! I can teach him! You'll see, Sully. This here boy's gonna be something special someday. I can tell." Bill turned to said boy, sitting sedately on the other man's hammock and watching the whole exchange with enormous brown eyes, and smiled. _

_The boy smiled back. He didn't care if the others didn't like him. As long as Bill smiled at him like that, with such kindness in his eyes, he'd be all right._

_"Bill. Consider this fer a moment." Sully fixed Bill with an angry stare. "Yer the cabin boy on one'a tha most bigoted pirate vessles in the Spanish Main. Do ya really think that yer the best person ta be playin' dad wit a eight year old Mulatto sugar farmer?"_

_"Well…" Bill sighed, sitting himself down next to said boy. "Maybe I'm not. But consider this for a moment, Sullivan." _

_Bill looked straight into the other pirate's eyes. His warm brown orbs took on an almost fiery quality, a glitter in them that was easily the most beautiful thing the little boy had ever seen. _

_"If I don't take care of him, who else will?"_

_Sully paused, then sighed and bowed his head. He hauled himself up off his hammock and picked his way across the rocking floor to the rickety wooden stairs. He looked back over his shoulder at the other man._

_"Allrighty, then. Jus be careful, all right? It ain't done no one any good to get their heart broke." _

_Sully scrambled up the stairs and onto the deck. Bill slowly sighed, his hand absently running itself through his new ward's tousled hair._

_"He's right, ain't he, boy? This ships' no place for you." He looked down at the boy and smiled again, but this time he was so sad it made him want to cry. "Maybe you'd be better off back at the beach with nothing but the crabs and the coconuts for company."_

_"No!" The boy cried, wrapping his little arms around his saviour's waist with all the strength a child used to hard labour could muster. "Don' sends me away! Please don' sends me away! I wants to stay wit you forever an' ever!"_

_Bill laughed and returned the impromptu hug, holding it for just a second before hauling the little boy up and putting him up on his feet. _

_"Forever's a really long time, mon petit oiseau. But I can assure you of one thing." Bill grinned and tweaked his little nose. "You're gonna be wantin' rid of me long before I'm ever wantin' rid of you."_

_The boy grinned. He was never going to wish Bill away. Not ever._

* * *

A short one, I know. The next one will be longer. According to the Webster French-english dictionary, mon petit oiseau means 'my little bird'. But once again, don't quote me on this.

Ahem! And now for a warning.

The next chapter is going to be a little lemony. Well, limey, really. Jus so you know.

Till next time,

Jiia


	19. Chapter 19 Do you love me?

WAKI 19

"Cabin boy!" Jack shouted from his cabin door. "Get your scrawny lil' arse over here, or I shall be forced to ravage you in front of the entire crew."

The ship went silent. All eyes turned to Will, who up until that very moment had been mopping the deck. The mop was now in pieces, each one clenched in Will's hands so tight it was a wonder they didn't turn into diamonds right then and there.

"Well?" The captain called out again, the expression on his face one of utmost innocence, mixed with the righteous irritation of one who is waiting for something he shouldn't have to wait for. "Are you coming or not?"

Moving mechanically, Will shoved the broken broom into Marty the Midget's startled arms and stomped across the deck.

Jack held the door open for him like the chivalrous gentleman he was, smirking his peculiar smirk as the enraged young man quite deliberately kicked him in the shins as he walked by.

With a final, eyebrow wriggling glance at the rest of the crew, he shut the door behind them.

"Well…" Said Marty, looking down at the inch-thick wooden splinters in his hands. "Look's like the cap'n's gettin' back ta his old self."

"Nah." Said Gibbs, leaning against the nearby railing. "This ain't like the cap'n

'tall. Ship-board relations is strictly off limits, even ta him. 'Specially ta him. They make thin's complicated."

"Then what's he doin?" Marty asked, scratching his bald little head. "If he ain't gonna bed tha boy, why bother wit all the squawkin'?"

"I ain't got the slightest idea." Gibbs sighed, pulling out his flask and taking a long, stiff drink.

The door clicked shut behind them. Will stood in the middle of the captain's cabin, hands balled into fists and shaking with the effort it took to not turn around and slam them into the other man's face. Or at least that's what he told himself. The hands themselves were of the belief that they were resisting latching on to the pirate captain's shirt and forcing him to engage in a nice snog. Either way, it was better for everyone if his hands stayed where they were.

"Will."

Jack's voice, but not Jack's voice. Too flat, too serious, devoid of the boundless energy that had made Jack so appealing. Will didn't respond.

"Will, we need to talk." It was an order, not a question.

"Really?" Will snapped. "I thought you were going to ravage me."

"Maybe later." The captain circled around, the hard soles of his boots surprisingly soft against the worn wooden floor.

Will refused to look at him.

Jack flopped down into his chair, watching the younger man's expression carefully. He picked up his compass, flipped it open. Smiled quietly and put it back down. Sat up straight and got right to the point.

"Anamaria thinks you're in love with me. I think you're just wanting a good romp. Which one is it?"

Will choked, his honey brown eyes flying very wide. He worked his mouth uselessly, looking like some sort of fish gasping for breath on the deck of the ship. His face flushed bright pink, right from the edge of his hairline down in between the little hairs of his goatee.

"Wh… What kind of question is that?!?" He sputtered, absolutely flabbergasted.

"A very simple one." Jack deadpanned, leaning back and pressing his fingertips together in a strangely diabolical way. "One which should give an intelligent young man such as yerself very little trouble. What are you after, a couple o' nights sleepin' in a real bed, or someone to have an' hold?"

Will gapped. Of all the things he had been expecting, this was not one of them. How exactly what he supposed to provide a reasonable response when the answer was 'all of the above'?

"Tell me, cabin boy." The captain's dark eyes burned into his soul. "Are you in love with me or not?"

The world went quiet. The sea stopped whispering, the ship stopped groaning, the wind stopped singing through the sails. The entire planet hushed itself out of respect.

Will finally looked up. His face had changed, somehow. He no longer looked so scared and alone. The weakness usually inherent in his features melted away, and a certain kind of strength took its place.

"Yes. Yes, I am."


	20. Chapter 20 Name

WAKI 20

Mwahahaha... Short little chapter, once again within the past. Because I am mean and nasty and love cliffhangers. Mwahahahahaha. Anyways... Read on, my faithful following. Much thanks go again to Ms. SlvrSoleAlchmst1, who's name I have finally managed to remember.

* * *

_"We need to find you a name." Bill sighed, pulling on one raggedy boot. "Any opinions, little one?" _

_The boy shook his head, tousled black hair shadowing his huge dark eyes. He had never really thought about a name. Names were just labels, and there were more than enough which applied to him already. _

_"Ok then." Bill let his foot fall back to the floor, resting his arms against his knees and staring into the little boy's eyes. "I'll have to think of one for you."_

_A long pause._

_"Alexander. No, too aristocratic. We don't want people calling you a fop, now do we?" He smiled, apparently amused. The boy didn't really know what that meant, but he smiled anyways. _

_Bill's smile faded, and he frowned a little. _

_"You need something that suits you. Who you are and who you're going to be. Something people will remember you by." _

_The cabin boy's face softened. He reached out, his long tanned fingers gently brushing the dark hair out of the boy's eyes. They were surprisingly cool as the skimmed along the darkened skin of his forehead. _

_"Jack." Bill whispered. "Your name is Jack."_

_The boy smiled. It was one more label, true. It was just like all the other names he'd been given. Mulatto. Whelp. Half-breed. It was the same, and yet, it was so very different. _

_ "I like it." He whispered back. _

_My name is Jack. _


	21. Chapter 21 Problem

Waki 21

Posted at an ungodly hour of the night. And you know why? Because I live in a screwed up part of the world where it doesn't get dark till ten and I have yet to learn how to use these spectarcular things called clocks. Seriously, the neighbours phoned to complain about the music. I thought it was like, six and got all pissy at them. NOT SO GOOD! Anyways... I know I promised to updated semi-regularilly, but that equals fail, mainly because I can't tell time worth a hill of beans. Seriously. I don't know what day it is right now, and I am too lazy to check. And, since summer is coming and I shall no longer be forced into attending the pitiful, soulsucking hell hole known as school, my concept of time is just going to get worse and worse and worse. Do not be suprised if I update twice in a day and say I waited a week. It's totally happened before.

Anyways... Just so you know. I should probably get to sleep now, so... Read onwards, my noble fans.

* * *

"Yes. Yes, I am."

The words echoed inside his head, bouncing around inside his brain. Half of him hailed it as truth, and the other denounced it as a lie. He did love Captain Jack Sparrow, to be true. But the man standing in front of him wasn't Captain Jack Sparrow any more. And yet, at the same time… he was.

Jack stared at him. He'd never seen that particular expression on the man's face before. It was stuck somewhere in between shock, disbelief, and the barest hint of pure, unadulterated joy. It was like Jack couldn't really believe that what Will had said was true. Like he wanted it to be, but somehow couldn't quite accept that it was.

Slowly, Jack came back to life. He brought his sun-baked hands up to his face, rubbing them over the leathery skin as if trying to rouse himself from the haze of sleep. Will watched those fingers pull down the loose skin around his eyes, stretching them out and making the shadow of kohl all the more obvious. The last remnant of the man who had been.

"Well then…" Jack sighed, fingers still digging in to the soft flesh under his cheekbones. "It seems we have a problem."

Will blinked. That was not really the response he'd been hoping for. Although, to be honest, he really didn't know what he'd been expecting in the first place.

"What do you mean? Why is it a problem?"

"Well, if it was just good old fashioned lust, we could have taken care of it forthwith. Unrequited love, on the other hand… That's a mite more complicated."

Will felt his heart stop. Jack didn't say it with any particular emphasis, but he couldn't miss it. _Unrequited love. _

The world blurred. Jack became all wiggly, like a piece of seaweed blowing in the current. He brought his own calloused hands to his mouth, forcing himself to make not a sound. He might let himself cry, but he wouldn't let himself beg.

"Now, see?" Jack groaned, making a flippant gesture in his direction. "This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. If you were just a lil' lonely, we could be at it by now! Half an hour, tops, and you're strolling outta here like you're the king of the world. Jus' think about how much more fun that would be! But no, you have to go an' ruin it by bein' all romantic."

"I'm such a fool…" Will whispered into his hands, the hot tears finally pushing themselves out of his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.

He let himself sink back against the wall, then slid down, hands moving up to cover his entire weather-beaten face. Jack was watching him, he knew. Watching him cry like some heart-broken teenage girl. Normally, that might have bothered him, but at that particular moment, he really didn't care.

"I should have just stayed in Port Royal, and married Elizabeth, and had seven children and been happy. But no. I have to go chasing stupid bloody pirates." He sobbed into his hands, completely missing the confused expression suddenly dawning on the pirate's face. "I'm sorry, Jack. I shouldn't have come."

"Wait just one moment there, boy." Jack's voice was strange, a little hurried and a little hesitant at the same time. "You left Port Royal… to find me?"

Will nodded desolately, not bothering to lift his head.

"You knew me before you got on the ship?" The incredulity in Jack's voice was obvious.

Once again, a sad little nod.

"How? When? Where? I don't remember you at all. Are you sure it was me? Not some other pirate captain named Jack?" The desperation was obvious by now. Jack was grasping at straws.

Will paused. And then, quietly, smiled.

"You will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." He laughed quietly to himself, pulling his legs up against his chest, as if in a feeble attempt to keep the pleasant recollection from flying away. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was you."

If Will had been watching Jack as intently as Jack was watching Will, he would have seen it. He couldn't have missed it. The sudden sparkle, the sudden glimmer, the flash of recognition in the deep darkness that was the captain's eyes. He would have seen the captain's strangely elegant lips form a word. A single word, common enough in conversation, and yet rare, so rare in its meaning.

"You…"


	22. Chapter 22 Sparrows

_Waki 22_

_Sorry for the wait, peoples. I have been busier than stink this last little while, what with Otafest and going to see POTC3. IT IS SOOOOO GOOD!!!! Mwahahahahahahahahahaha Explodes. Anyways... Expect random references to it, much the same as how there are random references to the second one in here. Because I'm just that cool. Anyways... Input is muchos appreciato, as always. And yes, there will be a random "In the past!" Thingamajigger in between EVERY chapter, extending up into the forseeable future. So there.  
_

* * *

_"JACK!!" Bill roared, belting down the dirt street. "GET DOWN RIGHT NOW!!"_

_Jack looked up, startled by the noise. It almost made him slip and fall, one foot reaching out for the thin branch and hitting nothing but air. His hands shot up and wrapped around another branch, more of a twig than anything._

_"Don't do that!" He whined. "You could'a made me fall!" _

_Bill stopped under the nearest arching branches of the giant oak, his hands pressed together over his mouth in the classic gesture of maternal concern. _

_"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Bill bounced on the tips of his toes, ready to launch into whatever action it would take to catch the ten year old. _

_"There's a bird's nest up here." Jack explained, taking his next tottering step. "It's the same kind of bird I saw on the day you found me." _

_"So you're going to break your back trying to thank it, I assume?" Bill asked, following his progress along the ground. _

_"Nah." Jack shot him a brilliant smile, the kind that always made him feel better, no matter how horrid the world seemed to be. "I'm gonna introduce you. Jack's heroes."_

_He laughed and took another tottering step. The branch made an ominous cracking noise. Bill had time to whisper a heartbroken 'no' before it gave way entirely, sending both boy and nest tumbling towards earth. The imagery was almost too painful for words. His little bird, falling broken from the sky. _

_Except…_

_Bill was there to catch him._

_Wham._

_"Bill?" Jack asked, looking down at the apparently unconscious man, young face full of concern. "Bill, are you alright? BILL!!"_

_One chocolate brown eye cracked open, absolutely glittering with amusement. _

_"When I told you to get down, this wasn't what I had in mind."_

_Jack laughed. He laughed, and then he hit the other man upside the head and started to cry. _

_"Awe, hush now…" Bill stroked his tousled black hair. "I'm all right. See? I'm fine. No need to cry." _

_The older man paused, then sighed, reaching out and picking up the shattered remnants of the bird's nest. _

_"Well… At least, not over me. Poor babies." _

_Three brown-speckled eggs lay broken over the grassy earth, the strange twisted forms of the creatures inside glistening in the strong morning light. Jack looked at them and started to cry even harder, grabbing hold of the front of Bill's vest with tiny fists. _

_"I'm sorry, birdies." The boy sobbed. "I didn't mean to kill you…"_

_"Silence, mon petit oiseau. C'est tout exact. Ne pleurez pas. Veuillez ne pas pleurer." Bill sighed again, continuing to absently stroke his young charge's hair._

_Jack sniffed, removing one hand from its death grip on his shirt to wipe at his dark eyes. _

_"What were they, Bill?" He asked, his voice little more than a whimper. _

_"Sparrows, Jack. Sparrows."_

* * *

_According to Babelfish, the random French translates thusly…"Hush, my little bird. It's all right. Don't cry. Please don't cry." _


	23. Chapter 23 I remember you

WAKI 23

Ok... I am updating so soon because it is pre-eng and I am waiting for Steven to give me the dimensions for our hovercraft, and am therefore bored. So I have nothing better to do than to update. Mwa. Anyways... I now have every chapter up to fourty written, therefore I shall be able to update whenever I feel like it instead of whenever I have a new chapter to update. So it should go faster. Not to sure about that, but it should.

* * *

The world once again ground to a halt. Silence fell over the little cabin, broken only by Will's occasional sob. Jack sat on the chair, looking somewhat like he did when one of his tavern wenches slapped him.

If Will had been watching, he would have seen the pieces in Jack's eyes, falling together and somehow fitting. The ruins of a broken mop, miraculously mending itself. The pieces of a puzzle, sliding together to form a perfect picture, a picture which had been there all along. A picture which had, until that very moment, remained hidden.

"I remember you."

Will wasn't sure he'd heard right. It sounded like Jack's voice. It was coming from the direction Jack had been in. And yet, how could Jack be saying such a thing? How could Jack, just-call-me-Jack, at least, be saying something like that?

"Well, I don't. Not really. But I know where you should be."

Ok, that sounded a bit more like it.

"What?" Will raised his head, and finally looked, but of course, by that time, the pieces were already in place.

"There are holes, holes where someone is supposed to fit." Jack gazed out through the window, his black eyes distant. "Conversations with a boat. Leverage… A magical door."

Will blinked. He wiped the remains of his tears off of his eyes and pulled himself to his feet, watching the strangely retrospective man from above. It was odd to see Jack so thoughtful. Will thought he rather liked it. It made him seem wise.

"Words spoken to shadows and an empty seat… 'Not all treasure is silver and gold…'" Jack brought one of his sadly ring-barren fingers to his lips, eyes flickering over pictures only he could see. "I thought it was all just part of whatever madness had come over me. But it wasn't, was it?" He suddenly turned back to the cabin boy, eyes snapping from vague and clouded to razor sharp in an instant. "It was you."

Will nodded. He couldn't quite bring himself to speak. There was happiness inside his heart, to be sure. But there was something else, too. Sadness. Sorrow.

Jack remembered, but remained the same.

"Huh." The pirate sat back in his chair, folding his strong arms over his chest. "That explains a lot."


	24. Chapter 24 Promotion

WAKI 24

Updating because...I need to feel like I've accomplished SOMETHING today. I'll have you know, all is not right in the land of Jiia. I don't think I've ever had so many people upset with me, and I haven't even done anything! That's the worst kind of angry. When they are mad at you for things you couldn't avoid, and no matter what they say they will all still hate you. le sigh. Anyways... Jack's little rambles into the past are about to take a rather... disturbing turn. Those of you who are faint of heart, read no further. At least, skip every second chapter. Really. I mean it. Apperantly, it made my beta sick to her stomach. Just so you know. Points go to people who can guess what this angsty little plot twist is going to be. And no, I will not give you hints. Everything you need to know... Has already been said.

* * *

"_BILL! You'll never guess what happened!" Jack threw open the door to the tiny room the two of them had rented on the Tortugan docks. "Bill?"_

_The pirate sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard with a wickedly curved knife in one hand and a mutilated apple in the other. A bottle of rum sat on the nearby table, only one or two glasses remaining. Not that it mattered much, seeing as there wasn't a glass to be filled anywhere in sight. _

_Bill looked up at him and smiled. Not the usual, glowing smile that made Jack feel like the most important person on earth, but a sad, strangely desolate smile, one that shouldn't really have been called a smile at all. _

_"Yeah, Jack, I heard. Sully told me all about it."_

_"Really?" Jack blinked, feeling just a little disappointed, and a lot worried. _

_"Yup." Bill gave him another heartbreaking smile, carving a chunk out of the poor apple. "Congratulations. No one's going to be able to push you around now." _

_"Yeah…" Jack said hesitantly, not entirely sure what was making Bill so obviously upset. "Now that I'm a real member of the crew, they're gonna have to start treating me with respect." _

_"Right." Bill looked down at the apple. "Respect. Of course they will. Wouldn't want to get on Captain Sam's bad side, now would they?" _

_"Bill? What do you mean?"_

_"Nothing, Jack. Go to bed. You're going to have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." _

_Jack did, still concerned about whatever had made his long-time friend look so very sad. He lay in the flickering shadows of the single lit candle, listening to Bill slowly eat the apple, one little chunk at a time. And then, as at last the candle went out, he heard the man whisper in the dark._

_"Je vous ai échoué, mon petit oiseau. __Je ne peux vous protéger plus."_

* * *

This is meant to be: I've failed you, my little bird. I can't protect you any more. I'm sorry.


	25. Chapter 25 Madness

WAKI 25

Aw... feels teh love Thanks for all the love, you guys. Getting all the "We're not mad at you!" reviews really helped. Made life not so craptastic. Anyways... Sorry it's taken so long to update. Life has been busy as all get up and go. I shall try to post a new chapter at least once a week. Possibly sooner, if I get reviews reminding me. To give you an idea of the timeline... I have written chapter 41. And there is slash. But not very much. The conclusion is coming, though. Never you fear. Mwahahahahaha. Anyways... This chapter is sorta boring, in my opinion. It's just sort of a stop-gap, explaining why it doesn't bother Jack that he can suddenly no longer rationalize his past actions. Sort of. It's complicated, and I am lazy. Just read it, k? Love goes to anyone who reviews.

* * *

It all suddenly made sense.

He knew he had gone mad. It had started when he was just a little child, talking to someone who wasn't there in order to escape the horrors of his everyday existence. This person, this guardian, had saved him from slavery, delivered him from the clutches of a pedophile pirate captain. Whenever something stressful had happened, there he'd be. Watching over him. Saving him.

And then he'd been left all alone on a deserted island and his whole mind had gone to hell. He returned, got arrested, busted out of jail, went on a crazy adventure to get back at the back-stabbing bastard who'd stolen his ship. All the while running the full spectrum of madness. Undead pirates. A skeletal monkey. His ship drifting in and out of moonlight, sailing across a windless sea. A handsome young blacksmith, smiling at him through the same eyes of his imaginary friend.

Fallacies in his mind, of course. He had regained his sanity, and could no longer be fooled by the fairy tales. The pirates, the blacksmith, everything. None of it had been real. He'd lead the Navy to his first mate, and the two had killed each other, and he'd made off with his boat. Simple as that. There wasn't anything left to explain.

Except… Here he was. The blacksmith was standing next to him, watching him with chocolate eyes. And he knew this boy had to be real, because Anamaria and the rest of the crew saw him, and he highly doubted he was making _all_ of them up. He wasn't that creative.

So the boy was real. It made sense, really. Will sprung him out of jail, and off they rushed to go save Elizabeth, who had undoubtedly been kidnapped by the foul beasts previously inhabiting his lovely ship. It was a win-win sort of situation. Will would have ignored his madness in order to get his princess back. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do, given the lad's rather desperate set of circumstances.

What didn't make sense was the whole 'falling in love with a lunatic and dumping the beautiful, rich royal girl' part. It was going to take him a while to make heads or tails of that little bit of logic.

And as for Jack dismissing him as another figment of his imagination, well, who wouldn't? He bore far too great a similarity to his childhood protector for his malfunctioning brain to tell the two apart. He had probably cut him out along with all the memories of his imaginary friend when snapping back to sanity.

That was good. A nice, rational explanation.

An explanation which, for all of its wonderful simplicity, helped him not at all with the current situation.

"Look…" He said with a sigh. "I'm sorry about the whole 'not remembering you' thing, but it's not really that surprising, is it? I mean, I was mad at the time, and it was awfully easy just to-"

He froze. Glanced around.

Nothing. The boy was gone. Just disappeared, as if he had never been there in the first place. An empty room, warm sunlight filtering in through salt-crusted glass. He was all alone.


	26. Chapter 26 Captain Sam

WAKI 26

_The room was tiny. Somehow, he had thought the captain's quarters would be bigger than that. But then again, anything was better than that cramped hell hole the rest of the crew called home._

_There was an actual bed. And a desk. And a chair, of all things. Chairs were very rare on a skiff the size of the one his pirate crew had decided to inhabit. There were better things to cart around than chairs. Things like rum._

_Speaking of which…Jack had drunk rum before, of course. He was already twelve, practically a man. Bill had been against it, but he had taken some from Sully anyways. It had, quite frankly, tasted like donkey piss. _

_But this stuff the Captain had given him…This was good. It was smooth and cool, and didn't so much burn as it did smoulder. And it was sweet too, for some odd reason. It was rare that Jack ever had the privilege of eating something not drowned in salt and spice. And so… He drank more than was probably wise for an inexperienced boy of his age. _

_A lot more._

_"So, Jack…"Captain Sam sat down on the edge of his bed, having let Jack settle in the chair. "It's been what, four years since ye got on the ship? That's a long time for a boy yer age. Ye've grown a lot."_

_"Tha's not wha' Bill says." Jack grinned lopsidedly, not even realizing his words had already begun to slur. "He says I'm jus' as much of a brat as I was when I came on board." _

_"What?" The captain looked at him, his bloodshot blue eyes going wider then any normal reaction would have made them. "If that's what 'e thinks, well, 'e must just ignore ye. It's obvious to anyone who looks that ye're already a strappin' young man. And there 'e is, still treating ye like a lil' boy."_

_"Well, I am a lil' boy, compar'd ta him." Jack sighed, taking another swig of the rum. "I mean, he's already twenny. He's practically OLD!" _

_The captain chuckled. His big, stocky hand came out to run his stubby fingers through Jack's hair, in an oddly disquieting parody of what Bill did on a daily basis._

_"Nah. He might be old'r but yer more grown up, ain't ye, Jack?" The captain's fingers slid down his dark cheek. "Yer a regular adult, ain't ye?"_

_Jack didn't say anything. Something about the glitter in the captain's eyes was scaring him. He didn't like the other man touching him at all._

_"Now Jack, as one man ta another…" The captain dropped his voice, leaning in conspiratorially. "I've got a bit o' a problem. Would ye like ta help me wit it, Jack? Would ye like to help me wit my problem?"_

_Jack continued to say absolutely nothing. He had a feeling that responding, either positively or negatively, would result in something he really didn't want to happen. But maybe, if he didn't respond at all, Captain Sam would get bored and decide to go harass some other boy._

_"I knew I could depend on ye…"Captain Sam whispered, apparently interpreting his silence as a 'yes'. "Would ye mind takin' off yer shirt, Jack? I would dearly appreciate ye takin' off yer shirt." _


	27. Chapter 27 Memory

I am updating because... Well... I'm bored. I'm in Pre-eng again, and there is NOTHING for me to do until my group stops lollygagging arouund in the woodshop. Le sigh. Boys are so strange. Anyways... Enough of my emoing. There is sadness in this chapter. I'm sorry, y'all, but the quest to return Jack's memory cannot possibly be as easy as I have cruely led you all to believe. That being said... The end is in sight. At least for me. I'm about twenty chapters away from finishing it. Which might seem crazy, considering there are only 27 chapters thus far, but oh well. What can you do, right? It has gotten out of control.

But on to other matters. I have a question. You people have not come to read the full coolness that is Sully yet, but you have an ok idea of who he is. Bootstraps friend, remember? Yeah. Him. Anyways... I am plotting to bring him back... In the current story. I have a nice little plot all laid out for it, but it would mean that this would REALLY be out of control and probably break 60 chapters. If not... Well, then, he is random. If you want Sully to return, review me. If you do not want Sully to return, well, review me anyways. Mwahahaha.

* * *

Jack stopped in mid-sentence. His thick eyebrows furrowed, and he glanced around as if he were looking for something. And yet… His eyes were distant again, foggy, as if he were looking but not really seeing. 

"Cabin boy?" He called, his voice sounding oddly timid. Almost afraid. "Where'd you go?"

"I'm right here." Will frowned, leaning down to look into the captain's clouded eyes. "Can't you see me?"

"Cabin boy?" He whimpered. This time, there was no almost about it.

Jack was afraid.

Just as Will was about to do something drastic like shake him or slap him, or maybe even kiss him, a change came over the captain once again. The tension eased out of his body. He let out a sigh, as if every muscle in his body was relaxing all at once. All the fear and hurt and pain, all the emotions, slid right out of him like water through his fingers. Everything went away and left nothing behind but an empty husk of a body. Little more than a corpse.

"Jack?" Will heard the terror in his voice, but he really didn't care. Terror seemed like a justified response.

He leaned in a little closer, looking deep into the dull, lifeless orbs as if closing the distance between them would somehow let him spot the spark of life that had to, just had to be burning inside.

And then, without warning, he did.

Jack's eyes were suddenly Jack's eyes again. Not Captain Jack, but Jack all the same.

The pirate blinked. Will felt the warmth of the man's breath ghost over his lips, and it was only then that he noticed that the man hadn't been breathing. He felt the cool breeze as the captain sucked in a huge blast of air, and almost cried.

Jack was alive.

And screaming.

"CABIN BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the BLOODY HELL do you think you're DOING!!?!?!?!?!!?!!"

Will lost his balance and fell backwards, hitting the hard surface of the captain's floor with enough force to leave large and very painful bruises.

"CABIN BOY!!!!"

The captain's screams echoed across the deck. The crew paused in their duties, each casting a glance in the direction of the notorious door. Some shook their heads. Others snorted.

Gibbs chuckled. He lent against the railing and took another swig of whatever poison he'd put in his flask this time.

"It makes ye wonder, doesn't it?" He commented to no one in particular, although he knew full well that Anamaria, standing at the helm, was the only one in range to hear him. "Makes ye wonder what exactly a whelp like Turner can do, ta make Jack do that."

Anamaria shook her head.

"I do not wonder, Mr. Gibbs. And neither should ye. Ye remember Bootstrap jus' as well as I." She kept her eyes on the horizon.

Gibbs gave an amused little nod and went back to his drink.

"Aye. That I do. That I do."

* * *

only just now realized that I never actually posted this. Sorry about that... I could of sworn I did. But apperantly not. Yeep. 


	28. Chapter 28 Sweetness

WAKI 28

Hey, people. This is the last of the disturbing chapters, so all must be merry. I really don't know what possesed me to write these... I wrote all three of them at once, and I don't quite remember doing it. It's one of those things where you just kind of write whatever, and give the actual events absolutely no thought whatsoever. So... Yeah.

* * *

_Jack wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He didn't remember taking off his clothes. They were just off, all in a nice little pile on the floor. And he didn't know why, but for some reason, he was undoing the laces on Captain's Sam's breeches. _

_Captain Sam watched him, his sagging features flushed. He let his tongue hang out onto his swollen lips, like a dog panting. The captain's thick fingers were tangled in his hair, forcing him to look at the captain's crotch. His nimble little fingers had the laces undone in no time, and the captain shoved his head forward._

_"Suck it, Jack." The captain panted. "Suck it like a piece o' candy. Have ye ever had candy, Jack? I'll have to get ye some."_

_Jack did nothing. He knew exactly what the captain wanted him to do. One did not grow up a slave and not understand exactly what 'suck it' entailed. But he wasn't a slave any more. He was a pirate. And be damned if he was going to let this disgusting old man forget that._

_"No." He said, his voice too loud in the too small room. _

_"What did ye say, ye brat?" The captain's hands tightened in his hair, enough to hurt. _

_"No!" Jack cried, his little hands reaching up to pry at the man's fingers. "I said NO!" _

_The captain let go of his head and took hold of his throat instead. He hauled him to his feet, podgy fingers sinking into the soft dark flesh. _

_"No one says no ta Cap'n Sam, ye lil' shit. No one." The captain's bloodshot, jaundiced eyes were wild, the eyes of someone no longer in control of their actions._

_Bang._

_And then…_

_They slowly drained of all their fury. All the malice. All the badness flowed out of them, and left absolutely nothing at all._

_The captain fell to the floor. Jack tumbled with him, coughing and gasping as much-needed air flooded back through his abused windpipe. He felt strong arms wrap around him, pick him up and carry him away. Off to the other side of the bed, away from the husk that had been a man._

_"Are you alright, Jack?" Bill asked urgently, his hands running over the boy's body, checking each and every fleck of blood for some hidden wound beneath. "Did he do anything to you?" _

_Jack shook his head, closing his eyes and curling up against the other's warm chest. _

_"No… I'm fine. Thank you, Bill." _

_Bill smiled, even though there were tears in his chocolate eyes. _

_"You're welcome, Jack."_

_Jack would never want anything sweet ever again. _

_Bill was all the sweetness he needed. _


	29. Chapter 29 Bloody Hell

_I AM SO SORRY!!! I haven't updated anything in forever!! I meant to, but life sorta snuck up on me.Anyways, I've got a new computer now. It's name shall either be Hubert, Mortimer or Edward the Second. All input into the naming of it is appreciated. But, unfortunately, there was a bit of a mix-up with the sending of the various files. Most of my stories made it, but a couple of them got a little... garbled along the way. WAKI should be fine, considering I've had the next six uploaded for about a million years. My other stories are not so lucky. Also... SilverSoleAlchemist!! I have lost your email!! And everything you sent me to boot. Please re-send me everything you can, including your DeathNote story that I was supposed to beta. Thanks so much!_

_With love, as always, Jiia._

* * *

"First you fall asleep on my floor, and now I wake up to you hovering not an inch away from my face!" Jack shot Will a glare, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Is there something you wish to be saying, Mr. Turner?" 

Will blinked. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he knew for certain that Jack wasn't just pulling his chain. He knew Jack's mischief face as well as anyone, and the pirate's expression at that particular moment was as far from it as could be.

"Uh… Jack?" He glanced around nervously. "You... You asked me to come in here in the first place."

"Did not." The captain glared at him. In days past, he would have said the man pouted, but this Jack did not pout.

"Yes, you did." Will found himself flushing at the mere memory of the captain's rather peculiar choice of words. "Don't you remember?"

"Hm, lets see." Jack looked off into the distance, scratching his disturbingly beardless face in mock contemplation. "Ah, no. I really don't."

"You did! Why don't you remember?" Will looked at him, into his eyes, trying in vain to avoid the logical conclusion. This was Jack, after all. Logic rarely ever had anything to do with him at all.

"It didn't happen, that's why!" Jack snapped, whirling and stalking towards the door. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd really like to get some-"

The instant the captain flung open the door to his cabin, certain cheekier members of his rag-tag crew let out a heartfelt round of applause.

"Congratulations on yer ravishin' captain!" Gibbs grinned, leaning casually against the helm. "Maybe next time ye can be a lil' louder. I don' think that pug-faced felon Sao-Feng over in Singapore heard ye'."

"Yeah!" Called Marty, irritably smacking something with what appeared to be a broken piece of mop. "If ye scream loud 'nough, maybe the Navy'll hear an' come put us out o' our mis'ry!"

"Brawk! Cabin Boy!" Cotton's parrot cawed happily.

Jack blinked.

And then he slowly, calmly closed the door.

"Bloody hell…"

Will sighed and shoved his hand through his hair.

"You have no idea."


	30. Chapter 30 Captain

Hurrrah for incredibly prompt, on time updates. Anyways... I have recently been visited by our good friend insomnia, so SOMETHING is gonna get written. Not sure what, yet, but WAKI will probably get at least a little of the insomnia pie. But yeah... Sorry for the short chapter. It's not filler, but there really wasn't anything else I could put into the scene to make it longer.

* * *

_"SHUT YER MOUTHS, ALL OF YE!!!" Sully screamed. _

_The rowdy collection of startled pirates fell silent. Two dozen men stood still, watching the three standing on the bridge of the ship with expressions ranging from rage to terror to joy._

"_The cap'n's dead. Bootstrap shot 'im." Sully watched them, waited for the uproar._

_Silence._

"_We're still a week out o' Tortuga. When we get there, ye can all go yer separate ways, if that's what ye be wishin. Until then, we find ourselves in need o' a change in leadership, savvy?" Sully leant forward, taking hold of the rail in a gesture obviously meant to intimidate the bloodthirsty horde. "I says we hold a vote. Majority wins. Any objections?" _

"_I nominate Bootstrap!" Someone shouted from the back of the mob. _

_In an instant, the entire ship was echoing with the shouts of the sailors. Some agreed. Others made it fairly obvious that they didn't. _

_And then, somebody spoke. Later on, when they were talking amongst themselves, the crew would begin to realize the true nature of that lone voice. None of them ever agreed upon where exactly that voice had come from. Each and every one swore that the speaker had been standing right next to them. Some said it was a man, others a woman, still others a child. One man swore on the bible that it was the sea herself talking to them. The only thing they ever really knew for sure was that, no matter what their own thoughts or opinions might be, they couldn't help but agree._

"_I say we make Jack the captain." It said, and in the echoing silence that followed after the last lilting phrase had faded on the wind, not an objection could be heard._

* * *

And so, Jack became the youngest pirate captain in the history of the world. Lol... Three guesses as to who the nominator is. _  
_


	31. Chapter 31 Forget Again

Waki 31

Hurrah for semi regular updates. It's a short chapter, but fairly important. Not terribly plotty, but not filler either. Anyways... On to the story!

With love, Jiia

* * *

"All right, you lice-infested blowfish! It seems there's been a bit of a misunderstanding." Jack gripped the weathered rail, grinding his mismatched teeth together angrily. "You all seem to be of the opinion that myself and the whelp are engaging in certain friendly relations."

"Of course we do, Cap'n." Gibbs looked at him, obviously confused. "Ye more or less said it yerself."

"Shut your mouth, cur!" The captain snapped, dark eyes flashing with rage.

Gibbs backed up.

"Such a thing has never, nor will ever occur. Do you understand me?" Jack shot a pointed glance at Will.

The stunned crew nodded dumbly.

"Good." Jack muttered, storming down the stairs and slamming the door to his cabin with a resounding thump.

"What happen'd ta him, dat made 'im all irritable like dat?" Marty scratched his balding head. "He never been dat bad before."

Anamaria frowned, glancing at Will out of the corner of her eye. The young man just stood there, eyes on the floorboards. His expression was blank, but his eyes told volumes.

"He remembered, didn't he?" She asked him, just barely loud enough to be heard. "He remembered who ye are."

Will nodded.

"And then he forgot all over again."

Anamaria sighed, tugging her tricorn off and pushing her hand through her thick black hair.

"An' now he even worse. Davy Jones is a cruel man indeed."

"No." Will whispered. "He's not cruel. He just gives us exactly what we want."

He finally looked up, chocolate brown eyes glittering with tears that the proud young man would never let fall.

"The problem is, people want all the wrong things."

And with that, he turned and walked away, disappearing into the dark salt-choked underbelly of the ship.

After a long silence, Gibbs called the others back to work. As the crew dissipated, Anamaria caught a glimpse of a certain young Elizabeth Swann slipping through a certain notorious door.


	32. Chapter 32 Some More Than Others

Waki 32

Hurrah for remembering to update. Once again, as ask for input- do you guys want Sully back or not? Sully is in this chapter, by the way, for those who didn't know who he was. He's Bill's buddy.

Also, although there are still plenty of chapters to go before I run out, I might not be writing anything more for a while. This are not going very well in me-land, and it might be some time before I can find it within me to write anything but angst. Just so you know. Short chapter, sorry.

* * *

"_I've never seen anything like it, Bill." Sully flopped down into his hammock, pushing a hand though his dirty black hair. "A full score of men, hardened sailors all, lookin' up at a twelve year old whelp and callin' 'im cap'n."_

_Bill sighed and shook his head, taking a seat on his own hanging bed. _

"_Neither have I. And that voice… Who do you think it was? I've spoken to seven different men, and there's not a thing they can agree upon except for what it said."_

"_Aye, the same here." Sully lay back. "It's somethin' strange, to be sure. It's that boy, that's what it is. It's sumthin' to do wit 'im. That oddness to 'im. Don' go tellin' me ye don't know what I'm talkin' about, ye've noticed it as much as I 'ave. As much as we all 'ave." _

_For some reason beyond Sullivan's understanding, Bill flushed and busied himself with removing his blood-soaked clothing. _

"_Well, when you think about the things he's been through… Who can blame the boy for being a little odd?" _

_Sully shot him a mystified, almost exasperated look. _

"_Just a lil' odd? Bill, jus' the other day, I saw 'im talkin' to a gull. Honest to God, he was standin' there havin' conversation, noddin' and lookin all contemplative, like the beasty had just said sumthin' wise." Sully awkwardly propped him self up on an elbow, only just managing to avoid swinging the hammock into a wall. "The boy's not a lil' odd, Bill, he's bloomin' mad." _

"_Yeah, well, aren't we all?" Bill snapped and promptly threw himself into the hammock, turning his back on his long-time friend to gaze solemnly at the strangely empty child-sized swing next to his._

"_Some more than others, Bill." Sully muttered, knowing full well his friend was no longer listening. "Some more than others." _


	33. Chapter 33 Elizabeth's Love

Waki 33

This chapter was fun to write, even if it did involve a lot of threatening and not-Jack angst. In fact, this whole "Elizabeth goes forth to fix everything" part was an absolute blast.

In any case, I hope you enjoy it, even though it is, once again, short. See you next time!

With much love, Jiia

* * *

"He loves you, Jack."

"That's all well and fine, Miss Swann, but just in case you didn't notice, he's just a might too manly for me." Jack shot her a glare, taking hold of a nearby ink pot with a little bit more force than was really necessary.

"There was a time when that wouldn't have mattered." She sunk onto his bed, for once not bothered in the slightest by the thought. "There was a time when you would have loved him back."

"A momentary madness, nothing more." He grumbled, dipping an elegant feather pen into the ink and beginning to write, in abrupt, terse letters that were just as out of character as his short cropped hair. "Now, if you'll please leave me alone, I'd like to get some work done."

She didn't move. She just sat on his bed, watching him write in the same angry, bitter manner with which he now seemed to do everything. After a while, she pulled herself up and padded closer, thanking Anamaria for lending her her soft, soundless leather boots. With one smooth motion, she drew the short blade from Jack's waist and pressed the edge against his throat.

"There is something I'd like you to keep in mind, Captain Sparrow." She whispered into his ear. "I love Will as much as he loves you. I shan't see him come to harm, by you or any other. If you break his heart, Captain Sparrow, then I shall personally cut out yours."

She let the edge of the blade nick his throat as she drew it away. Flipping the dagger over in her hand, she slid it back into its sheath.

Jack didn't move. He just sat there, pen dripping ink onto his parchment.

She turned and made for the door. She still had one pirate to talk to, and she wasn't entirely sure where he might be hiding.

Jack's voice made her pause. The sound of it froze her down to her core. The man from whence it came could hold no more similarity to the familiar pirate captain than a bird did to a sharp-toothed wolf.

"There is something I'd like you to keep in mind as well, Miss Swann." She heard his pen begin to rasp against the paper again, quick, brutal strokes which reminded her of nothing so much as the grind of steel on steel. "This is my ship, and both you and Mr. Turner are guests upon it. Outlive your welcome, and I just may be inclined to evict you. And, I assure you, accommodations are few and far between out here in the Atlantic. So unless you have a burning desire swim in to port, I suggest you keep a check on that fiery temper of yours."

She clenched her trembling hands into fists to stop them shaking, and reached for the door handle, suddenly desperate to be out of the tiny room.

"Oh, and Miss Swann? If you ever cut me again, you will not be the one carving out hearts."

She shut the door behind her. She managed to saunter across the deck and down the stairs into the dingy quarters beneath the deck before she broke down and started to cry.


	34. Chapter 34 Mother of the Ocean

Waki 34

One more chapter of happiness, my friends. Note- I have many chapters of this written already, but they may be running out surprisingly quickly, and life seems to have bought a monopoly on my time and is not letting Life have any of it. In other words, there is no time for me to write in the foreseeable future. I'll keep posting until I run out of chapters, but if the situation hasn't changed by then, then I'll have to go on a temporary haitus. Much apologies.

With love, Jiia

* * *

"_BILL!!!" Jack sat ramrod straight, little fists clutching the bed sheets so tight they left permanent marks. _

_**Wait…**_ _said his brain. __**Bed sheets?**_

_He was in the captain's bed. Only it was his bed now. He was captain. All because some random person who sounded like Bill, only not, had said so. So they had carted the old captain's body out and thrown it rather unceremoniously into the ocean, and scrubbed his blood from the floor, and washed the bloody sheets in sea-water until they were almost white again and smelt of nothing so much as tears. And Jack had gone inside the room that was supposed to be his, and slept in the bed which he was to call his own, and had slipped into darkened dreams of the one to whom this blood-stained room would always belong. _

_And he had woken up screaming Bill's name, and for the first time in four years, Bill wasn't there._

_He put his head down into his hands and began to weep. _

"_Hush, little one." A woman's voice said from the gentle shadows outside the windows._

_He froze. Slowly turned his dark eyes towards the shimmering silhouette. Soft curves like the swell and lull of a calm ocean, tumbling dark hair braided into seaweed dreadlocks, wide dark eyes that glittered like the moonlight off the ocean… She was the very reincarnation of the sea itself. _

_And, to his surprise, he found he knew her. _

_**Mother.**_

_She smiled, floating through the dirty glass to sit beside him on the captain's bed. Her long, spindly fingers reached out and brushed his cheek, pulling the salt of his tears into the salt of her body and leaving behind only the lingering heat. _

"_Do not cry, little one." The spirit whispered, and her voice was the sound of the surf upon every distant shore. "Dis shall be de one and only night you spend in dis place. Tomorrow, you shall go home." _

_Jack frowned, looking up at the nymph with the innocent confusion only a child can project. _

"_But… I have no home."_

"_Oh, but you do!" The woman tapped him gently one the nose, letting loose a laugh like the crashing of waves against a hull. "You just have not found it yet. You will see, little captain. Tomorrow, de sun shall rise upon de edge of de world, an' you shall find your freedom driftin' o'er de waves."_

"_How do you know?" Jack blinked, letting his fingers curl around the beaded tassel of her dress. _

"_I know." Her fingers took up the tassel to which the boy had attached himself and began to untie it. "I know dis, because it is I who will be bringin' it to you."_

_The string of beads came free, and then the nymph began to braid it tenderly into his thick, dark hair. Jack looked to nothing but her face, struggling to inscribe each and every feature, each soft line, each ritual scar, into his memory. _

"_You are beloved by de sea, Captain Jack o' de Sparrows. Remember dis, and she shall never fail you. You have but to wish, Jack, and it shall be yours." The spirit finished her task and allowed her cool fingers to linger upon the quiet warmth of his face. _

_She slowly, slowly pressed him back into the tearful sheets and pulled the crisp fabric up over his little shoulders. She tucked him in, with enough love and caring to almost, almost make up for a lifetime of loneliness and hate. She smiled once more, and began to fade away, back into the secret shadows of the midnight sea. _

"_And now, little one, it is time for you to sleep, for tomorrow will come all too quickly."_

_And then she slipped away, and so did Jack. And he dreamed of the ocean, and of the rocking of the waves, and a little brown bird sailing out of a sunrise into a bright new day._

_And then he awoke to the sound of a seagull singing hallelujahs to the first rays of the dawn, and all that remained of the woman of the sea was a string of beads tied into his hair. _


	35. Chapter 35 Elizabeth's Love, Part Two

Waki 35

Life is still crazy. There are still more chapters before I run out. Things should be calming down soon, so I hope I'll be able to get back to writing things. (And beta-ing things... I'll so sorry, Silver!) Pocky goes to whoever correctly figures out who the mysterious person in this chapter is. I'll give you a clue- They've appeared in other chapters before this one, and is an actual cannon character in almost every way. Strangely enough. Considering I didn't actually know the cannon when I wrote it.

Anyways, with much love,

Jiia

* * *

"You WHAT?!"

Elizabeth shrank back against the curve of the hull, tear-filled blue eyes blown wide.

"I… I just wanted to talk to him, Will! Make him see reason!"

Will's chocolate eyes had turned into twin pools of auburn flames, glittering with a rage unlike anything she had seen in him before. His fingers tightened by his sides, obviously longing to wrap around the hilt of the sword thankfully sitting on the other side of the young man's hammock.

"So you held him at sword point?! Oh yes, THAT'S going to work out well! What were you thinking, threatening him like that? This has got to be the stupidest thing you've ever done!"

"I'm sorry, Will!" She whimpered, covering her face with her hands. "I didn't mean for any harm to come of it! I just want to help you!"

Will's expression softened. He sighed heavily, pushing his hand through his hair.

"I know, Elizabeth. You had the best of intentions. But having the best of intentions doesn't seem to do us much good these days."

She looked up at him and saw the glimmer of tears in his deep brown eyes. There was a time when she would have wiped those tears away, embraced him, held him close to her until all his sorrows faded away and he could smile again. But those times were long gone, and it was no longer her touch he wanted.

It was at that very moment that she finally realized exactly how much she was willing to give to have him back. To make him love her again.

It was also at that very moment when she realized exactly how impossible, and selfish, that wish really was.

"It's all right, Will." She whispered, her hand rest upon his strong shoulder. "I know how hard it is for you. Trust me, I do. But you'll get through this. Everything will turn out all right in the end."

"But…" Will whispered back, letting his forehead rest atop her golden head. "Everything just keeps getting worse."

She slid her arms around him, somehow managing to hold him in the same way her mother did before she died, despite the obvious height difference. It was an embrace meant only to comfort, to sooth. A mother's embrace.

"Then it's just about time that things start getting better, isn't it?"

Will pulled her tight to him, buried his face in her golden hair, and began to cry.

She held him close, the first genuine smile she had had sliding onto her features with all the natural ease of rain off a roof.

She loved him. That would never change. But maybe, just maybe, she could change the nature of that love.

She had watched him grow up, after all. No matter that she had grown up with him. She had protected him, right from the very instant he had first floated into her life. And if this was what protecting him meant, well then, that was just fine.

She would do her very best to make him happy.

From some dark, secluded corner not far away, a pair of shimmering eyes the colour of the sea at night time watched the smith cry in the young lady's arms.

"Well, well, well…" A voice that lilted and rolled like gentle ocean waves muttered into the shadows. "What a fine mess ye 'ave gotten yerself into, little captain. A fine mess indeed."


	36. Chapter 36 Captain Jack Sparrow

Waki 36

At last... Jack Sparrow come to life. _Captain_ Jack Sparrow, pardon me. Geesh, my muse is so touchy lately! Anyways, life appears to be getting back to normal. I am writing again. I've done a couple of chapters of this, actually, which I must now send to SilverSoleAlchemist to be beta'd, because even if she only ever picks up on my grammar mistakes, her feedback always makes me happier than a penguin at a fancy dress ball.

With love, Jiia

* * *

"_All right, Captain Jack." Bootstrap sighed as he sunk down into the worn surface of the only chair he had seen in over a year. "We need to find you a name."_

"_I tought I aweady 'ad a name." Jack mumbled through a mouthful of ever-so-slightly mouldy bread. _

"_Well…You need another one." Bill snatched a piece of the bread from the impressive platter he had managed to nick for his captain's first breakfast. "We can't just call you Captain Jack. It needs to be Captain Jack Something-or-other."_

"_Why?" Jack frowned, swallowing the chunk of bread._

_Bootstrap paused, watching the bob of his Adam's apple with an expression that was not quite as unreadable as the older pirate probably hoped. Jack almost smirked. _

"_Because you do." Bill muttered, tearing his eyes away and staring out the grimy glass into the vast expanse of ocean trailing away behind them._

_Jack watched him for a moment, absently tearing a piece of bread apart with his nimble little fingers. The man who had become his mentor was a strange creature, even by Jack's standards. Never had he known a man so contradictory. He was honest with everyone except himself. He was the picture of honour, and yet wallowed in shame. He was the strongest man Jack had ever known (After all, how many cabin boys could have stood up to one of the most feared pirate captains in the Spanish main at a tender age of sixteen?) and still, his weaknesses shone through like the bright sun through the salt-streaked glass. He was a perfect man crafted entirely by faults. Exactly the kind of person Jack aspired to be._

"_I've got one." He smiled, popping another bit of bread into his mouth. "Cap'n Jack Turner."_

_Bill choked. Which was odd, considering he wasn't eating anything to begin with. He whirled around to face the young boy happily swinging his legs off the end of the bed, raising a finger as if to scold the child he called captain. The words seemed to curl up and die in his mouth, however, and he simply sighed once more, pulling his trademark red bandana off his mop of russet hair and pushing a hand through the salty strands. _

"_No. I'm honoured that you'd think of it, but no. I want you to pick something that's yours, not mine. Something people will always be able to remember." _

_Jack grumbled under his breath, but it was more of a show than a real gesture. He had expected nothing less from his poor, conflicted pirate. _

_But now, of course, he had to come up with a name. A name which was uniquely his. A name which would stick in the hearts and minds of everyone he came across. That was how one got to be notorious, after all. It did no good to do great deeds if no one could remember your name._

_And then he felt the heavy weight of his new decorations graze the side of his cheek, and a memory returned to him. An ocean, a sunrise, and a little brown bird perched between the bars. _

"_**What were they, Bill?" **__His memory asked. _

"_**Sparrows, Jack. Sparrows." **_

_Jack smiled._

"_Bill… I know who I am."_


	37. Chapter 37 Compromise

Waki 37

Hey, everyone! It's Jiia! I'm not dead! I'm so incredibly sorry for this absurdly long hiatus. Mostly because I said flat out that I would keep updating regularly and then totally didn't. I've got some explaining to do, and some unfortunate news that I must regretfully inform you of.

I'm just going to get right down to it. I'm going to take a break from fanfiction. Yes, you heard me right. Er... Read me right. I've already stopped writing and updating, and plan to maintain this until I work some stuff out. Therefore, this is going to be the last chapter you see for a while. Depending on how well my masterful plan works, this might be the last chapter I ever post. I'll undoubtedly continue to write it for as long as I live, but I need to get to a point in my life where I'm confident enough in my own abilities that I don't need the approval of every single person on earth. That's really what fanfiction is for me, a way to validate my own existence, sad as that is. I need to change that.

In any case, I'm sorry to leave you all hanging like this. I hope to eventually finish all my stories, one of these days. Thank you all for sticking with me through all this, and I hope to talk with you all again someday.

With eternal love, Jiia

* * *

"Ye 'ave messed up big time, Mista Jones." The woman's dark lips pursed angrily. "Do ye not remember what I said to ye? 'Do not touch Jack Sparrow, Mista Jones', said I, 'or I'm gon' to curse ye sorry hide inta de next century.'"

"But Calypso!" Jones almost, but not quite, whimpered. "How was I ta know that this were the Jack Sparrow ye spoke ta me of?"

The sea goddess' eyes narrowed dangerously, and she promptly smacked the octopus man upside the squishy head.

"Dere is only one Captain Jack Sparrow sailin' des waters. An' besides, could ye not see me beads in him hair? Dem alone should 'ave told ye dat it were 'im."

"Well, I'm sorry!" Jones rubbed his injured flesh with one chunky claw. "It dinnae occur ta me at the time. An' it's too late ta call the deal off now, isn' it?"

Calypso fixed him with a glare like grey artic ice, her deceptively slight hands planted firmly upon her slender hips.

"What do ya mean, it too late? It had better not be too late, Mista Jones, or ye gon' ta be sleepin' on de couch for a long, long time."

The man's sallow face somehow managed to get even paler. The tentacles protruding from his chin wriggled in agitation.

"Well, we already made the deal, didn' we? I can' jus' preten' like it never 'appened. The man 'as a debt ta pay."

The woman pursed her lips once more, the sharp points of her fingernails biting into her dark flesh.

"Aye… Yer right. Him made de deal, him got to pay de price." She sighed, staring off into the stormy seas just off the Dutchman's bow. "Still, it break me heart, him sadness do."

Jones paused, scratching his tentacled face with his claw. He looked at the sorrowful woman out of the corner of his watery eye. What members of his misshapen crew bothered to watch the two chuckled quietly. They knew that look. That was their captain's "plotting" look. The appearance of that particular look was usually closely followed by mischief of some sort, and mischief was always entertaining.

"Well… Perhaps there is a way ta set things straight." Jones muttered slyly.

"Aye? An' what might dat be, Mista Jones?"

With all the grace and elegance of a two hundred pound squid, Davy Jones began to smile.


	38. Chapter 38 Point

Hey, everyone.

Yeah, I'm back. Although I'm not entirely sure how much I'm back. I'm going to University now, writing for the school paper and doing comics for that as well. My time's going to be pretty stretched. Still, I love writing fanfiction, and I think it's about time I got back in the saddle, so to speak. Thank you for all the support, by the way. It's great to know that you guys actually care about this, and your great reviews were one of the things that helped me get through this shitstorm that has been life. Although I can't say things have really settled, things are looking up. Thank you all, once again.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm looking for an artist to collaborate on a manga I've been writing. I intent to send it to a publisher eventually, so someone of professional-level skill is preffered. And just so you know... it's five volumes long, and there's really no end in sight. So if you're interested, be prepared for a long haul. If you or someone you know is interested, give me a shout at ks!

With all the love in the world, Jiia

* * *

"_Well, well, well, lookie here!" The gangrenous old pirate leered viciously, leaning over the railing of the schooner to observe the grim expressions of those aboard the tiny skiff. "If it ain't Cap'n Sam's old crew? Where is the codger, anyways? Still sleepin', I 'spose."_

_The captain laughed, a harsh, grating sound that was just about as pleasant as rocks being smashed together. _

"_Yeah, he is." Sully glared at him from his customary post at the helm. "With Davy Jones, that is. The blighter's dead." _

_The other man paused, for one brief moment, as if in sombre contemplation of the news. Then, his leathered face crinkled into a vindictive grin. _

"_Well, I can't say he didn't deserve it. So, I'm guessin' yer in need of a new cap'n, eh? An' it just so happens that I'm in possession of a officer in need of a promotion. So ain't this just our lucky day?" _

_Sully smirked. This seemed to irk the other captain, so the mate let out a little amused laugh. The man began to turn an ugly shade of red. He was obviously not used to being laughed at by people in imminent danger of being killed by him. _

"_Sorry, Cap'n, but we've already got ourselves a new boss."_

"_Oh, really?" The man sneered. "And who might that be?"_

_Sully just smiled and pointed up. The captain's eyes followed the line of the rigging, all the way up the mast, until they were almost even with the rail of the galleon itself. And there, standing upon the cross beam like the figurehead of some backwards ship from hell, was a little boy with a tricorn hat and beads braided into his hair._

"_Captain Jack Sparrow, mate. An' don't you ever forget it." _

_The captain's name was Wilson. Or perhaps Willis. Jack wasn't entirely sure, but that was alright. He would have deliberately gotten it wrong anyways, just to annoy him. _

_And oh, was the captain fun to annoy. If only he had made it a little harder. The only thing Jack had to do to get him all riled up was exist, and that didn't take any effort at all. _

"_What do you MEAN, he's your captain?! He's a child, for goodness' sake!!" The captain roared into Bootstrap's overly patient face. "He should be swabbin' decks an' runnin' errands, not SAILIN' A SHIP!! Have you all gone bloomin' mad?!" _

_Bootstrap pursed his lips and slowly, slowly brought his hand up to his face, wiping the captain's spittle off his cheek with his sleeve. _

"_Yes…" He said, with the same irritated tolerance he had been using the entire time. "Captain Sparrow is young. But he is not stupid, which is more than I can say for some." _

_Sully laughed quietly, sending Jack a conspiratorial wink from behind Willis' back. _

"_Yes." Jack tapped his fingers against the desk impatiently. "And I am also in the room. I would much prefer you talkin' to me instead of my crew, savvy?" _

_Willis glared at him. The man's first mate, a tall, gangly man in his late twenties, offered a secret smile, which Jack happily ignored. _

"_Listen here, ye lil' brat." Willis thrust his bony finger in Jack's face, making the boy go cross-eyed. "If we were on my ship, I'd have ye drawn an' quartered." _

"_Well then, it's a good thing we aren't on you ship, now isn't it?" Jack beamed up at him, and without any more warning whatsoever, lunged forward and took a bite out of the captain's accusatory finger._

_He felt the man's hand torn away from him, leaving a rather satisfying chunk of flesh behind, and then experienced the queer sensation of being hit with a fist with a piece missing. He was strong for his age, but not strong enough to resist the force of an adult fist impacting his jaw, and he found himself spiralling onto the floor. _

_With a disgusted gag, he spat the piece of finger out onto the worn wood, and was sad to see one of his teeth go with it. He gave a sigh and pulled himself to his feet, wiping the blood from his little lips like some underage vampire just returning from a feast. _

_Bill had the situation under control, of course. He had Wilson's arm twisted so far behind his back there was no way it wasn't broken. Sully was doing his part, keeping a pistol trained lazily in the general direction of the first mate. Who, strangely enough, didn't appear too concerned with this sudden turn of events, other than the pistol-trained-at-him part, of course. _

_Jack strolled up to stand before the restrained captain. Bill pressed him down and forward, forcing him to bend down to eye level so his little Captain wouldn't have to look up. Wilson whimpered, and Jack shot his friend a sly smile over the injured man's shoulder._

"_Here's how this is going to work." Jack looked the captain straight in his blood-shot eyes. "I am going to take your ship, and you are going to let me."_

"_And why would I do that?" Wilson hissed, baring his crooked teeth in an almost animalistic snarl. _

"_Because, if you don't…" Jack smirked, revealing the black, bloody cavity where his tooth used to be. "I'll let __**him**__ kill you."_

_Bill's eyes went very, very wide, and then very, very narrow, and then twisted the man's arm so hard he'd probably never use it again._

_Needless to say, what's-his-name got the point. _


	39. Chapter 39 Confusion and a Kiss

Aha ha ha ha ha!! FINALLY!! I actually wrote this a long time ago, but now it's finally actually in the story!! Whoo! Yeah. I keep forgetting where you guys are and where I am in relation to the plot.

With love, Jiia

* * *

"Cabin boy!" Jack shouted from his cabin door. "Get your flea-infested hide over here. I need to have a word with you."

The ship went silent once again. All eyes turned to poor, beleaguered Will, who, up until that very moment, had been content to mosey about the deck pushing water around with the strapped-together mop. As if to add just that extra little kick of irony, the rough bindings the pirates had used to keep the thing together decided to come undone. The rag head hit the deck with a melancholy thud.

"Well?" The captain called out again, looking more and more irritated by the minute. "Are you coming or not?"

Will gave a heartfelt sigh and handed the broom off to poor Marty. He shuffled across the deck, eyes never leaving the water-worn boards.

Jack held the door open, glaring at him as he slipped inside. With a final scathing glance at the morose crew, he slammed the door shut behind them.

Will sighed again, looking around the once-familiar room. It seemed to be getting stranger and stranger as the days went by. The happy clutter had been replaced with irate neatness, everything stowed away in its proper place, lined up in perfect, obsessive rows. The giant bundle of fabric that had been Jack's bed was now meticulously made up, the sheets folded over and the corners square. Everything about the room that had made it Captain Jack Sparrow's was gone.

"You seemed to have inspired a bit of a mutiny amongst the female members of my crew."

Will jumped. He had somehow managed to become so wrapped up in his melancholy thoughts that he had completely forgotten that the object of those very thoughts was actually in the room with him.

"Uh… what?" He looked up at said Captain, who had become as well-groomed as his quarters.

The captain scoffed, rolling his dark eyes.

"Anamaria and Elizabeth, you blubbering dolt. Elizabeth I expected, but my first mate? It has become more than apparent that something needs to be done before I lose control of this vessel altogether." He sat down in the chair, back perfectly straight, not touching the back of the chair at all.

It was almost more than Will could bear.

"What would you have me do, Jack?" Will sighed, pushing his hand though his thick, dark hair.

The captain's eyes narrowed. Will noted absently that even the last faint trace of his khol had disappeared.

"I am your captain, cabin boy. You will address me as such."

Will sighed again. For the fourth time.

"And will you stop that?" Jack snapped, forcing his chair around and angrily picking up a quill. "If you keep sighing like that, I am going to have to have your lungs removed. You are depressing the crew."

Will started to sigh, but stopped himself just in time.

"Alright then, Captain. What do you expect of me?"

"I expect you to do your duties, Mr. Turner." Jack crossed off a particularly frustrating T. "I expect you to do what we hired you to do, without all the moaning and groaning and mooning over me. It is extraordinarily irritating."

"Fine." Will pressed his lips together, staring out the captain's sparkling clean window. "Is that all?"

"No, Mr. Turner, that is not all!" Jack whirled around in his chair again, knocking over an ink pot and completely ruining whatever he was writing. "Will you please explain to me why my crew seems to think we are together? Why they appear to WANT us to be together? Why they are willing to HOLD ME AT SWORD POINT in order to make that happen?!"

Jack stood up, black eyes burning. And yet, Will was not afraid of those eyes. He could see what was in Jack's heart, as plain as day. Anger, yes, but mostly confusion. Jack didn't know what was going on. The old Jack might have been ok with that, but this new one… The Jack who folded his sheets and pressed his shirts and lined his pens up in order of height just couldn't handle it. It made him afraid. And it was the fear that made him angry, not any action of Will's.

"What have you done to my ship, Mr. Turner!?" Jack hovered inches from his face, strangely short without his usual high-heeled boots. "What have you done to me?"

Will looked down at him, let his eyes wander over the captain's strange, familiar features. Let them take in every little difference, every slight similarity. He could still see the shadow of the old Jack, the light patches on his face where hair or perpetual dirt used to reside. The smoothed-out lengths of his hair still bore the twist of his braids, only just visible beneath the hours and hours of painstaking brushing. If he lowered his eyelids, just like so, and used a healthy share of imagination, he could almost see the man he loved.

"I haven't done anything, Jack. Everything that's happened to you, you've done to your self."

The captain's dark eyes widened, just a little. His lips parted, as if he were about to speak. Will didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear this stranger talk in his lover's voice, not any more.

And so, he shut the man up in the only way his sorrow-clouded mind could conceive of at the time.

He kissed him.


	40. Chapter 40 The Black Pearl

Hey, everyone. I meant to update, I really did, but there was ultimate epic failage of chairs. Which isn't as nearly as much fun as it may or may not sound. Anyways, I'm back and should be updating fairly regularly for at least a little while.

With love, Jiia

* * *

"_Welcome aboard, Captain Sparrow." The first mate smiled down at the boy as he crossed the gangplank to his new ship. "She's ready an' waitin' for yer order."_

_Jack looked up at the man. Captain What's-his-name's former first mate seemed to be all right, for a pirate. He was thin, which was normal, considering their mutual profession. He was ludicrously tall, which annoyed and amused the boy at the same time; it was nice not to be the only person who had to look up to meet a person's eye. He had a scraggily, ill-kept beard that looked more like it belonged on a corpse than a living man. His smile-wrinkled eyes spoke volumes; this was a man who's face gave away nothing he didn't want it to. The man was a fox, to put it simply. Exactly the kind of man Jack needed on his side if this whole 'taking over the ship' thing was going to work._

"_Now, now, sailor. I've always thought it proper to introduce one's self to a lady before stripping her of her skirts. What's our beauty's name?"_

_The crew of Captain W.'s ship chuckled. It probably had more to do with a twelve year old commenting on the proper handling of women, but it was good none the less. At least they weren't dismissing him yet._

"_She's called the Black Pearl, Cap'n." The mate lead him onto her deck and up the short flight of stairs to the helm. "She's the fastest ship in the sea." _

"_Really, now?" Jack murmured. _

_The mate went on, listing her advantages and her weaknesses and her limitations. Jack nodded and smiled whenever it seemed appropriate, but he wasn't really listening. Not to the fox-man, anyways. _

_He listened to the sound of the ocean beating against her hull. He listened to the groaning of the rigging and the flutter of the sails. He felt the boards rising and falling under his feet, felt the wind whistling through his hair. He ran his hands along the smooth knobs of the wheel, caressing them like someone would a lover, gentle and tender and loving. _

_Somewhere in the back of his mind, a woman laughed like the ocean._

Tomorrow, you shall go home.

_Captain Jack Sparrow smiled quietly, letting his dark eyes drift closed._

_Nothing had ever felt so right._


	41. Chapter 41 Isn't it obvious?

Whoot! Accomplishment! Two days in a row!!

Yeah... We're getting into less angst and more sop for the moment. I don't want to say the chapters are filler, per say, but... They're not too terribly action-ridden.

* * *

Waki 41

Jack's lips were warm. Not hot, like he remembered them. Just warm. Silky, not rough. The damage wrought by years at sea had been healed by a couple of months of good personal hygiene. His hands slid easily through the man's strangely fluffy hair. He could barely imagine what it would have been like trying to duplicate the gesture with the captain's thick dreadlocks. He suspected that particular voyage would be one from which his hand would not return. Just one more victim to Jack's out-of-control braids.

As it was… the man felt too small beneath his arms. Jack had always been so large, his monstrous ego shining through and making him as a giant among men. The reality was much less impressive. He was only a few inches taller than Elizabeth, and probably weighed about the same. Underneath all the puffy clothes and the outrageous demeanour, he really wasn't that big at all. Skin and bones, really. No wonder they had such a hard time keeping him in shackles. They didn't make them in petite.

He had expected Jack to fight back. Once the shock wore off, he expected some sort of battle. A good slap up the side of the head, at the very least. He wouldn't have put it past the irritable man to shoot him right then and there.

But he didn't. He just stood there, letting Will kiss him. His hands had automatically come up, ready to defend himself if need be. They appeared to be rather undecided as to what they wanted to do. Part of them seemed to think they should be curling up into fists and launching themselves at Will's face, and the other seemed to want to take a grip of his shirt and hold on like his life depended on it. They settled for making fists against his chest.

The rest of his body appeared to be making similar concessions. His back was stuck halfway between curling outward, and thus away from the smith, and relaxing into him. It decided to tense in the opposite direction, therefore pushing the man closer to him. Whether that was part of the plan or not was a mystery.

Slowly, regretfully, Will pulled back, keeping his arms wrapped around his captain and quietly vowing to never let go, even if Jack really did shoot him. The captain opened his dark eyes, looking up at him with a strange expression somewhere between shock and amazement.

"You… You just…" The captain stammered, blinking owlishly.

"Yes, I did." Will sighed, smiling a little sadly.

He twirled a piece of the man's dark hair around his finger, loving the silky feel of it. Loving it, and at the same time wishing it were different.

"Why?" Jack gaped at him, apparently not noticing that the man was playing with his hair like one might play with the fur of a dog.

"Isn't it obvious?" Will smiled, the same smile he used to always give Elizabeth, back in the days when she was still Miss Swann. "I love you, Captain Jack Sparrow. And I always have, ever since I first met you."

Jack stared at him, dark brows knitting together in the single most adorable expression Will had ever seen. His mouth worked silently, struggling to come up with words to express the confusion running rampant behind his black eyes. Will didn't mind. He knew the feeling.

He would wait. He would wait for Jack to figure out what he wanted to say. No matter how long it took, no matter what finally came out of his mouth.

He wasn't going to let them make the same mistake twice.


	42. Chapter 42 God help me, I do

Ah ha ha ha fire drills at five in the morning kill me now.

* * *

"_I don' see what yer problem is, Boots!" Sully flopped down into his hammock, somehow simultaneously knocking back a good fifth of the bottle of rum in his grimy hand. "Everythin' seems ta be going well ta me."_

"_He's changing, Sully." Bill sat down on his own hammock in a less flamboyant way, tugging off his salt-stained boots. "He's been spending far too much time with that Barbossa fellow. You know, Wilton's old first mate? They're getting far too friendly for my tastes." _

"_Oh, so ye'd rather 'ave 'im getting friendly with ye, then, eh Boots?" The other man cackled wickedly, ignoring his friend's mortified expression and the flying shoe aimed rather precisely at his cranium._

"_Of course not! Jack's twelve, for God's sake! What would make you think such a wretched thing?!" Despite his blatant refusal, the man still flushed a rather guilty shade of red. _

"_I've seen the way ye look at 'im, Bill. Most everyone has, includin' 'im." Sully paused, causally examining his filthy fingernails. "In fact, everyone seems ta know how ye feel 'cept ye." _

"_I'm not like that." Bill whispered, pulling his legs up to his scrawny chest and somehow managing to maintain an upright position in the rocking sling. "I could never hurt him like that." _

_Sully gave him a long, disbelieving look. He carefully set the bottle of rum upon the damp deck and situated himself in a more serious, and yet still wonderfully ridiculous, position._

"_In case ye hadn't noticed, the boy's got his own eye on ye. He has got ever since ye saved him from that slack-jawed son of a squid. Again. I don't think yer interest would hurt him any." _

"_I'm the only father he's ever known." Bill collapsed backwards into the coarse netting, pressing the back of his arm into his forehead. "I have a son of my own, you know. William."_

"_Of course I know, Bill. He's all ye'd ever talk about." Sully watched him closely, a strange, calculating look on his normally friendly face. "At least, till little Jack came into yer life."_

"_I'm not like that, all right, Sullivan?" Bill snapped, glaring at him with his deep, chocolate eyes burning. "He reminds me of William, all right? That's all." _

"_All right, all right!" Sully held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Yer nothin' like that at all! I'm sorry fer even bringin' it up."_

_Bill scoffed at him and turned over, leaving his friend with nothing but his back. Sully sighed and followed suit, resigning himself to a night of uncomfortable silence. _

_A long while later, just when Sully was treading the cloudy edge of sleep, he heard his friend whisper something in the dark._

"_Dieu m'aident, il est vrai. Je l'aime."_

* * *

_Random Babelfish French "God help me, it's true. I love him."_


	43. Chapter 43 Let's make the crew happy

Heh... The epic happy continues. Live it up while you can, my devoted fans. Live it up while you can.

* * *

Nothing else existed. Nothing else ever had, or ever would. It was just the two of them, standing together in the midst of a great, meaningless world. Jack and Will. Will and Jack. Together.

Jack had apparently given up trying to speak. He just stood there, letting his forehead rest against the other man's chest. Will found it extraordinarily odd, holding Jack that way. In his dreams, he had always been within Jack's arms, not the other way around. Jack had always been so strong, so much more sure of himself.

But not now. Jack was lost. He knew that something was wrong. He just wasn't quite sure what that was. He was frightened, and confused, and he had been alone, so very alone. Just like Will had felt, after the captain left. He was going through the same thing that Will had. Hopefully, he'd manage to come to the same conclusion.

He felt Jack's manicured fingers flex against his chest. He'd finally thought of something to say. Will couldn't help but smile. Things were going much better this time around.

"Will?" The captain muttered, almost meekly. He wasn't irritated for once, and without the irritation, there wasn't much left over.

"Yes, Jack?" Will stroked the man's dark locks, practically cradling his head against him.

"I don't know… I mean, I'm not sure… Exactly what it is… That I'm feeling." The man mumbled. "I feel that I should feel something, but I have no idea what that feeling should feel like."

Will laughed quietly. It wasn't exactly up to snuff with his "good luck/bad luck" ramble, but it was quite a bit better than being shot.

"That's alright, Jack. You don't need to feel anything right this very moment. I'll still be here, when you figure it out."

Jack looked up at him, his expression closer to what it had been since making the deal. It was a little angry, a little worried, and a lot confused.

"Really now? And what makes you think that I'm going to want anything to do with you after what you just did?"

Will smiled, sliding his hand down the side of the pirate's face, fingertips ghosting over the familiar gaunt curves and sending a shudder down the man's spine.

"You haven't pulled away yet." Will whispered, running his thumb over Jack's parted lips. "And you really don't appear to be too terribly disgusted by all this."

Jack shuddered again as Will's hand slid down his back, pulling the two of them even closer together. His fingers slid into the fabric of Will's shirt, holding onto it with the same kind of grip they had once used upon countless bottles of rum.

"What do you say we make the crew happy, eh Captain?"

Jack flushed, just a little.

"'kay…" He whispered, almost saying nothing at all.

Will smiled, then leaned down and captured his captain's lips once again.


	44. Chapter 44 Don't ever leave me

I feel so sorry for Bill. Jack is a total minx.

ALSO! Further reminder! Looking for artists! Give me a shout, eh?

With love, Jiia

AMKNHTHOEITHOIDNTOINH  
I'm SO SORRY!! Yesterday's chapter? Totally not yesterday's chapter. THIS is today's chapter, and yesterday's chapter has been fixed so it is, in fact, yesterday's chapter.

I'M SO SORRY!!

* * *

"_You're not angry with me, are you Bill?" _

_Bill blinked, taking a moment to shamefully glance about and remember exactly where he was. The young man beside him looked up at him, dark eyes filled with concern. Jack pouted up at him, full lips turned up in a perfect worried frown that was just a little too good to be real._

"_What for?" It was Bill's turn to frown. "Have you done something that would deserve my ire?"_

_Jack giggled in a way which did absolutely nothing to comfort the sudden rampant paranoia digging its way through Bill's mind. _

"_No... You just don't seem to be... Paying as much attention as you used to." _

_Jack leant back against the balustrade, as casual as any captain on his ship. Looking at him standing there, Bill would never have guessed he was the same tragic imp he'd picked up all those years ago. Ever since they got on the Pearl, he'd been changing at an increasingly rapid rate. They'd only been on the ship for a few weeks, and already he seemed to have grown a couple of inches. His hair was longer than Bill remembered it being, as well, brushing his lean shoulders in increasingly thick clumps held together by seasalt and sweat. His tricorn hat and newly acquired coat, a 'gift' from the Pearl's previous captain, were slowly starting to fit as he grew into them. He was still just a boy, but with every passing day, he was becoming more of a man. _

"_Wh-what do you mean?" Bill stammered, shoving a hand quickly through his hair in an attempt to hide their sudden nervous tremors. _

"_Well... you don't look at me anymore." Jack looked at him, drifting somewhere between bored and curious. "And you never start conversations anymore. It's like you're suddenly nervous around me. I can't imagine why."_

_The rather mature grin the young man gave him said he knew exactly what Bill was suddenly nervous around him, and that he was not at all repulsed by the idea. Bill flushed and turned away._

"_It's nothing, Jack."_

"_No, it's bloody well not!" The boy slammed his foot into the deck, suddenly rocketing back to twelve years old. "I don't know what to do with you anymore, Bill! I don't know what you want from me!" _

_Bill looked back at him, blinking in mixed shock and confusion. Tears welled up in the young man's eyes, even as he struggled to keep his face from crumbling. Suddenly, everything the pirate had conveniently forgotten about this boy came surging back. Of course he would be confused, of course he would be worried. Of course he would be afraid that he was losing him, that Bill was starting to drift away, to abandon him. Of course he'd do anything to make sure that didn't happen, even if that meant exploiting the weakness that Bill refused to admit he had. _

"_Don't leave me, Bill." Jack whispered, crossing his little arms over his chest protectively and looking off to the side, out over the open ocean. "Don't leave me."_

_Without even realizing he was doing it, Bill dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around the little boy and pulling him close. Jack wrapped his arms around the other's neck, sobbing quietly into his guardian's strong shoulder. _

"_I won't, petit oiseau. I already promised, remember?" Bill rocked him quietly, the warmth surging though his chest totally disparate from whatever sick desire he had felt before. "I'll never leave you, petit oiseau. Never."_

_Jack's little arms held him so tightly, like a shipwrecked waif holding to a piece of driftwood. Bill smiled gently._

_Jack wasn't just a little boy. Jack wasn't just a random piece of flotsam washed up on his beach. Jack was as much his son as William. As long as he remembered that, as long as he remembered his honest love for the boy, the dishonest love he would never, could never allow himself to feel would no longer be important._

_On the other side of Bill's shoulder, Jack let himself smirk. Although he didn't often show it, he was an incredibly patient boy. He could wait to grow up a little before pulling Bill's pretty lies down around them and making him do what both of them wanted._


	45. Chapter 45 Bet

Waki 45

Waki 45

"Will? What's going on? Why are you so happy?"

"Heh heh heh…"

"Oh my… You did it, didn't you? Oh my God, you DID!"

"Well… Not really. He still has no idea who I am."

"But you did it! You finally shagged him!"

"Elizabeth! Please!"

"Ok, fine then. The two of you 'made love'. I knew it. Ha ha, Anamaria is NOT going to be happy."

"… Anamaria?"

"Yeah. We placed a bet. She said the two of you would wait until we got to port and then spend a nice, romantic candlelit week locked up in some random inn. I thought it was more likely you'd just get it on right here on the ship."

"… You disgust me."

"It's the pirates. They're a horrible influence."

"Yes, of course. Bloody pirates."

"I'm so happy for you, Will! You've finally gotten what you wanted."

"Uh… Right…"

"… Will? You DID do it, didn't you? You DID sleep with him?"

"…Um…Maybe you shouldn't be cashing in on that bet just quite yet."

"… Bloody hell, Will. If you didn't shag him, then why are you so damn bright and cheerful?"

"Well… I told him how I feel…"

"And?"

"He wasn't upset by the thought. He was a little confused, but he wasn't all 'Ew, the eunuch likes me!' or anything like that. Oh, and he let me kiss him. Twice. On the mouth."

"… You are a sad, sad boy, William Turner."

"What? Why?"

"You just are. Now wipe that stupid grin off your face. It makes you look like an idiot."

"Yes, Mother. And you know what? I never really wanted to sleep with him in the first place. That's not the point. The point is, he doesn't hate me. He might not love me yet, but he doesn't hate me. I think that's something."

"Yes, it is. So is a chamber pot."

"You're completely missing the point of this, aren't you?"

"Go to bed, Will."

"Fine then."

"…"

"…"

"Will?"

"What is it, Elizabeth?"

"Was it nice, snogging him? I mean, he didn't taste like mouldy cheese or anything, did he?"

"Go to bed, Elizabeth."


	46. Chapter 46 Always is a long time

Ah hah hah... Spent my first Friday night in residence. NEVER AGAIN. I have NEVER in my ENTIRE LIFE been exposed to such... such... debauchery!! It was like every ridiculous stereotypical teenage collage party fiasco was going on right outside my door! ALL NIGHT!!

Sigh... I will never understand my demographic.

Anyways, here's a chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

_"BILL!!"_

_The pirate flinched, stopping his supposedly stealthy retreat from the blood soaked deck and turning to face the raging young captain._

"_Yes, Captain Sparrow?" _

_Jack glared at him, jamming his fists against his bony hips. He'd grown an astonishing amount in the past four years, now standing just a couple of inches shorter than the older man. (With some help from his brand new high-heeled leather boots, of course.) He'd tied his dark, unruly dreadlocks back with a strip of sinew to keep it out of his face during the battle, and it made him look younger than his sixteen years. In fact, despite the new height, it was almost like talking to the little boy of his memories._

"_Why did you do that, Bill?"_

"_Do what, Captain?" Bill resisted the urge to sigh. He'd gotten nicked in the ribs during the battle, and he didn't want to run the risk of ripping his lung open or some other such catastrophic failure at life. _

"_What do you think, you brainless dolt?!" Jack hit him upside the head with the flat of his ringed hand, noticeably careful to keep the hard metal as far away from the man's skull as possible. "Getting yourself shot or stabbed or whatever the hell happened to you trying to save me?!" _

"_And what exactly gave you that impression, Jack?" Bill did his best to keep his expression neutral, but he couldn't stop one slender eyebrow from strolling up his forehead. _

"_Well, the whole 'jumping in the way of whatever that stodgy bastard was trying to hit me with' was my first clue. Really, Bill, what were you thinking? I can take care of myself just fine, you know."_

_Jack crossed his arms over his chest, chin up and eyes defiant._

Good lord, teenagers.

_Bill once more forced himself to ignore the almost irresistible urge to sigh. _

"_I don't see the issue with this, Jack. You're alive, I'm alive... Although that might change fairly soon if you don't let me go see someone about bandaging this _**gaping wound in my chest**._"_

"_It's not that hard of a concept to grasp, Bill." Jack grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him through the bowels of the ship towards the meagre infirmary set up in the galley. "I don't want you to find yourself meeting the Almighty because you speared yourself on a sword I was perfectly capable of blocking myself, savvy?" _

"_Sully's been teaching you idioms again, hasn't he?" Bill sent the young man a sidelong glance, hoping the boy would get the point and drop the subject. _

"_Don't change the subject, Bill." Jack stopped them, shoving the older man up against the warped wall in such a way as to cause maximum discomfort without causing him any further injury. "Do you have a death wish or what? You've barely healed from the last time you took a bullet for me. And don't go saying it's your duty as a member of my crew or whatever. Ragetti or Pintel would never pull a stunt like this." _

"_You talk like it's a bad thing." Bill muttered, looking anywhere but into his surrogate son's concerned eyes. _

"_I'm not a little boy anymore, Bill." Jack whispered. _

_Bill was very suddenly aware of how close the young captain was. They weren't touching, but they might as well have been. If anyone had come down the narrow corridor, it would have been perfectly reasonable to assume that the two of them were engaged in some sort of intimate activity. _

"_I'm sixteen..." Jack's breath was hot against his cheek, the words soft against his over sensitized skin like a lover's caress. "You're only eight years older than me. You don't have to protect me anymore." _

"_I __**want**__ to protect you." His voice was deliberately loud. He discarded the sensual whispering in favour of simple speech. The meaning was clear. "You'll always be a little boy to me." _

_Jack froze for a long, uncomfortable moment. His hands formed into tense fists and then he pulled away, stalking down the hall and heading back the way they had came._

"_Always is a long time, Bill. Things always change eventually."_

_The drifting tails of his coat disappeared around the sharp corner, and he was gone. Bill finally let himself sigh, ignoring the lightning bolt of pain. _

"_Bloody teenagers... I bet I was never that bad."_

_Bill pressed one hand against the wound in his side, partially to hide the sudden shaking, and continued on his way. _


	47. Chapter 47 Figured it out

Ah hah hah another lovely week in Res. Ah well. Here's teh chapterage And for those of you who picked up on it...

I'm more interested in the past at the moment. It's almost done with, though. There's only like, three more chapters to go before it's done I get back to the _real _plot of the story. And then all the interesting stuff currently in the past will get booted into the present, so... Yeah. They're gonna come together, any minute now.

* * *

"So, have you figured it out yet?" Will lent casually against the railing, watching the captain steer his beloved ship out of the corner of his eye.

"No. Will you stop asking?" Jack frowned, refusing to look at him.

"No." Will contemplated the busy deck below, watching the motley crew which had become his family rush about their work. "Why does it bother you so much? I've only asked twice."

Jack pursed his lips grimly, brows creasing as if in thought.

"It reminds me of what happened. Which, for reasons unknown even to me, makes me not angry. Which, in turn, makes me confused. Which makes me angry again. It doesn't make any sense."

Will chuckled quietly.

"Sense has nothing to do with it."

"Well, I don't like it." Jack snapped, tugging sharply on the wheel. "Things should make sense."

"Well, they don't." Will sighed, fiddling with his cuff. "The sooner you come to grips with that, the sooner you can stop caring and get on with your life."

"Get on with shagging you, you mean." Jack rolled his eyes, yanking the poor wheel hard enough to cause the ship to lurch uneasily to the side. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? Getting me in bed."

Will flushed, letting his eyes wander out over the open ocean, the deck full of complaining sailors, the full, billowing sails... Anywhere but at the captain.

"Of course not. Not that I don't want that too, I mean, I do. Who wouldn't? But that's not the point."

"Oh, really?" The pirate glared at him, anger replacing confused unease as his dominant expression. "Then what was all that snogging about, then, eh? I suppose it was totally platonic?"

"Well, no!" The smith-turned-sailor crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to admit to pouting in any way, shape or form. "It's a gesture! Like a handshake, only different."

"Different is right!" The man scoffed, abandoning the helm altogether to stand square against the younger man, arms crossed over his chest in a strange mirror of the other's posture. "People don't normally harass another's tonsils with their tongues during a handshake!"

"You didn't seem to mind it so much when I was doing it, _Mr. Sparrow._" Will narrowed his earthen eyes, trying to send all the frustration and anger he was feeling towards the obstinate man through the air at him.

Jack's black orbs went impossibly wide.

"You _didn't!_"

"Oh, yes I did!" Will found himself smirking rather demonically, perversely pleased with himself for getting under the other man's leathery skin. "What are you going to do about it?"

Jack's saucer eyes suddenly turned to slits, like dinner plates turned on their sides. His shoulders came up, arms tense and hands formed into shaking fists.

It took Will exactly two seconds to figure out how extraordinarily unwise it was to taunt his angry pirate boyfriend, especially when the last of those adjectives had yet to be secured. It took him another second to realize that he should have probably been running about three seconds ago. A full five seconds had passed before he actually started to move.

Jack only needed the one.

"Yeargh!! Ger off me, you black-haired buffoon!"

"CAPTAIN! It's CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW, you yellow-bellied land-lubber!! Don't you EVER forget it!"

"Well, at least dis is sorta normal." Marty scratched his bald head with the splintered end of the poor destroyed mop.

"Aye." Gibbs grinned widely, looking like someone had just offered to pay for a year's worth of booze. "Jack's startin' to act like hisself again. It's a good omen, that's for certain."

The older man clapped the midget solidly on his diminutive shoulder and then turned off to go do some of his mandatory shouting, completely ruining the effect by skipping across the deck.


	48. Chapter 48 Suggestions

Aaand the evil plot begins. Grr... Hector pisses me off. He ain't even done anything, and he pisses me off. Anyways.

* * *

"_I just don't understand it, Hector." Jack sighed and collapsed into his familiar bed. "I know he likes me. So why doesn't he just... you know?"_

_Barbossa paused, scratching his scraggly beard thoughtfully. The older man had remained the Pearl's first mate, partially out of convenience but mostly because Jack was too lazy to change it around. Things worked fine the way they were, and this way he could avoid any nasty whispering about favouritism towards Will and Sully. _

"_Well, ye know, Jack, perhaps yer readin' him, wrong, if ye get me meanin'. Perhaps his interest is purely fatherly, as he says."_

"_Then why does he blush like a lady with her skirts lifted whenever I get him cornered?" Jack rolled his head about upon the pillow to better look at the freakishly tall pirate without any actual effort. "He practically bled to death out of his face when I pushed him up against the wall today." _

"_Perhaps it's just the idea o' the thing which has him blushin'. After all, he is a God-fearin' Englishman."Barbossa crossed his gangly arms over his chest._

"_English...?" Jack raised a dark eyebrow, returning his gaze to the ceiling. "He speaks an awful lot of French for an Englishman."_

_The first mate paused once more, leaning back against the rocking wall of the captain's little cabin. _

"_I've heard quite a number o' tales of Bootstrap o'er the years, an' not all o' 'em are good. Some said he were a spy, grown up on one o' those colonies that's always changin' hands. Half French an' half English an' half God knows what else. It's also said that he's the first to refuse to acquiesce to Cap'n Carter's rather queer desires. That'd be why he stayed a cabin boy fer a good ten years, cause he never let the cap'n 'initiate' him into the crew." _

_Jack frowned, twirling one of his newer braids around his finger. It made sense, in a strange sort of way. He could recall the night before his own encounter with the captain quite clearly. It was the only time he'd ever seen Bill get drunk, before or after. And yet, how had Bill managed to survive on that ship, especially since his own refusal had landed him in a death grip? Bill wouldn't have had a protector to save him. _

"_But how...? Why wouldn't Sam just make him?"_

"_Well..." Barbossa shifted rather uncomfortably, tightening his arms around his chest. "He probably did. I've served with Sam meself, an' I know such a thin' wouldn't satisfy 'im. He'd want 'im ta do it willingly, or at least pretend ta."_

"_Good God..." Jack sighed, rubbing his salt-grimed face with his salt-grimed hands. "Poor Bill. No wonder he wouldn't want to... He'd think it'd make him like Sam."_

"_That'd be my thinkin', as well, Cap'n." Barbossa straightened, clasping his arms behind his back. "Perhaps ye should be correctin' his thinkin'."_

"_You know, Hector, you're right!" Jack sprang to his feet, dark eyes glittering with anticipation and hope. "That's exactly what I'm going to do! If he knows that our situations are nothing alike, he'll want to be together for sure!" _

_Jack clapped the tall man on the shoulder rather roughly, beaming excitedly up at the older man._

"_Thanks a bunch, Hector! I knew there was a reason I kept you around!"_

_The young man turned and scampered out of the room, off to find his guardian and proclaim their mutual love. Barbossa sighed and pinched the bridge of his long, crooked nose._

"_I should 'ave stuck with Wilton. At least he didn't make me deal with teenage angst."_


	49. Chapter 49 Questions

Yeah! Getting fixed! Whoot! Slowly but surely getting back to normal Jackness. Or at least behaving like normal Jackness. It'll be a while yet before it actually IS normal Jackness. Actually, I'm not really sure if I can write Jack anymore. Hm...

* * *

Things were changing.

Slowly but surely, they were getting back to some semblance of right. There were some things that would never be the same, of course. It would take years for Jack's hair to grow back, and considering the drastic improvement to the man's smell, Will wasn't entirely sure he wanted it to. At least not into the same thick dreadlocks. And the beads were gone forever, disappeared into the breach with the rest of the hair.

There were other things Will liked about this new Jack, too. He wasn't nearly as intimidating, for one. Before, he always seemed to know everything, to be in control of the situation. Even bound in locks and chains, he was calm and cool. He might not necessarily have been in control of himself at times, but very little of the outside world seemed to faze him. He was worldly and experienced and more or less everything Will was not.

Now, he was mostly just confused.

He was confused about everything. The first time the deal had gone through and wiped out his memories, he had at least had a vague idea of who he was, what he was. He might not have really understood how he got there, but he dealt with it in a suitably Jack-like manner. He'd blustered his way through it and into a sort of semblance of normal. And then there had been that moment, that single moment of recognition, of understanding, and it was gone again.

All of it.

The more Will thought of it, the more it made sense. What exactly had happened, that is. Although Jack hadn't really remembered him, he _had_ managed to figure out that there was something to remember. He knew they had history. He remembered the events of Elizabeth's rescue. The memories themselves were there. Will just wasn't in them. But when the second sweep came around, it took everything. Now there was not only a piece missing, but an entire section.

Trying to assess the damage was tricky, however. If he pointed out too many contradictions, pushed too many questions, it might happen all over again, and he didn't know how much of Jack there was left to lose. He had to be careful. He had to just seem curious.

And that was easy enough. Jack had already accepted that Will had feelings for him. Curiosity was a natural thing. And although he didn't return the affection, he didn't rebuke it, either. He was too unsure, too uncertain of who he was and what he wanted to resist. He just went along with it, just like Jack always had. Going with the flow, making stuff up as he went along and making it look like planning. That was the one thing that had never changed, no matter how much of his memory was lost.

"Jack? Can I ask you something?"

They were in the Captain's cabin, drinking rum. Another thing that hadn't really changed, although the quantities had dropped drastically.

"You already have." Jack smiled as he poured Will another drink, apparently quite please with himself. "But go ahead, I'm listening."

"When, exactly, did you become Captain of the Pearl?" Will watched the older man closely, looking for the hesitation, the confusion that warned off further pressing.

"Hm…" Jack filled his own glass, looking contemplative, but not confused. "I'm not sure, exactly. Quite a lot of the intermittent time was spent at sea. And there aren't exactly seasons in the Caribbean. I'd say… Fifteen? Sixteen years? I don't actually know, nor do I care"

"Sixteen years? That's a long time." Will sipped at the alcohol, now somewhat anxious. Sixteen years ago, he hadn't even been old enough speak properly, and Jack was already Captain of a ship? "How old are you, anyways?"

"Pfft."Jack scoffed into his drink, apparently highly amused. "This is the Caribbean, luv. No one knows how old they are."

"True enough." Will had to agree; He wasn't entirely sure of the exact number himself. It was easy to lose track of time, out on the open ocean. "Still, you must have been fairly young at the time. I mean, you can't be that much older than me."

And then came the pause, the hesitation, the confusion. The look of worry in those dark amber eyes, as unsure as they could get.

"I suppose I was. I don't really recall." Jack downed his rum in one quick gulp, already beginning to pour himself another almost before the glass was back on the table.

There would be no more questions that night.


	50. Chapter 50 Rambling explinations

Aaaand the results of that suggestion. I love the doctor, I have to say.

* * *

"_Bill! I have had a revelation!" _

_Said pirate groaned. The grouchy, hung over doctor shot him a look and jabbed a finger into the wound on his chest under the pretence of bandaging it. Bill grit his teeth, refusing to give the sadistic jerk the satisfaction of causing him pain. _

"_What is it, Jack?" He tried to sound as patient as possible, considering the clenched jaw._

"_The reason you don't want to be with me is because you're afraid you'll turn in to Captain Sam, wretched blighter that he was."_

_Bill choked. The doctor raised a bushy eyebrow, suddenly much more interested in his latest patient. Jack just stood there, hands on his hips and a confident grin dazzling the various inhabitants of the makeshift infirmary. _

"_What on EARTH makes you think that?" Bill managed to squeak, trying to ignore the fire currently consuming his face. _

"_I was talking with Hector, and he said-"_

"_Wait a minute... Hector Barbossa? The first mate!? What the hell were you talking to him for!?" _

_Bill tried to stand, and got smacked upside the head with a bloody towel for his efforts. The doctor shoved him back down on the galley table and continued his work, going decidedly slower than he really should have. _

"_He's my first mate, is there any reason I shouldn't talk to him? Anyways, so he said that you were like me, only you didn't have a you to save you, so you were like what I would have been if you hadn't been there. So anyways, he starts talking about how Sam probably did to you what he tried to do to me, only he really did it because you couldn't save yourself, so that's why you're so uncomfortable with the thought of being with me, because it reminds you of Sam and what he did, and you're afraid that if you're with me you'll be exactly like him, but don't worry, you won't, because it's a completely different situation. You know that right? Because that was just wrong and evil but with you and me it's..."_

_The doctor's second eyebrow shot up, looking down at Bill with mixed pity, doubt and a strange sort of grudging sympathy. Bill sighed, ignoring the jolt as the man pulled the bandages tight. Jack continued to rabble on and on, talking about a whole whack load of things that were probably very important and revealing much more to the crew that Bootstrap could really allow. And yet, Bill couldn't bring himself to give a damn what any of their mangy flea-bitten crew thought. The doc patted him on the shoulder, a simple gesture that said "You're free to go", "Good luck", and "Feel free to come commandeer some of the medical alcohol when this all blows to hell" at the same time. Bill gave him a grateful look and wearily pulled himself to his feet._


	51. Chapter 51 Deja vu

Aha ha ha ha ha we're almost THERE!! This is officially the last chapter of the normal story I've written, and I'm thinking I'll finish off the history before getting back to this. So you're in for like, three chapters in a row of history. Just so you know.

* * *

"Oi, Will." Captain Jack called down from atop the crossbeam, sitting on the stout wooden pole as comfortably as any chair. "Cum up here for a second, eh?" (No, that is not meant to an insinuation. He's getting his accent back, geez, what's wrong with you people?)

Will sighed and handed the box he was carrying to a passing member of the crew. They'd finally reached port, after almost a month of travel. A month of careful questions and careful answers, slowly letting Jack come back to himself, filling in the holes whenever he could. Will found that he could almost train the older man, 'teaching' him how he was supposed to behave by changing his reactions. If it appeared that Will approved of something, Jack did it more often. If Will made his disapproval known, it would almost never happen again. Although he had to be careful. There were times when Jack would do something just to piss him off. Hence the sitting at the very top of the rigging.

He was almost back to himself, actually.

On the outside, at least.

"Yes, Jack?" Will pulled himself up onto the spar with a sigh, not nearly as comfortable with the height or the rocking of the ship as his counterpart. "You called?"

"Tell me something." Jack barely sparred him a glance, looking out over the cramped cluster of houses that was the port of Santa Domingo. "Have I ever been here before?"

"Not that I know of. But probably." Will followed the Captain's eyes, past the tiny, dirty houses and out into the vast fields of sugarcane, bordered by jungle. "You've been to a lot of places."

"Yeah, I know. But this one seems familiar, somehow." Seeing the man reflexively fiddling with a moustache that was no longer there was almost enough to break his heart.

"Maybe you should ask Gibbs about it." Will sighed again, trying to ignore the sudden jolt of sadness, the likes of which were slowly getting more and more familiar as Jack's mannerisms returned. "He's known you longer than I have, after all."

"No, this was before Gibbs." Jack waved a dismissive hand in his general direction, the simple rings he had once again begun to wear glittering in the sun. "You were here with me, a long time ago. I'm certain of it."

Will did not point out how impossible that was.

"Hm. What do you say we go down and check it out?" Will turned to him and smiled, glad to have found an excuse to spend the day together. "Perhaps we'll find something to jog our memories."

"Agreed." Jack pulled himself easily to his feet, strong and confident.


	52. Chapter 52 What do you know about Aztecs

Oh my lordy lordy am I actually going to FINISH A STORY!? OH MY GOD!! Ok, people, it's almost the endgame here. Like... This isn't going to break 70 chapters. Not unless my muses pull a Three Word Phrase on me and put in another plot twist or something. BUT OH... I'm so excited. SO excited.

* * *

"_So, you see, it's ok! Because it's two completely different things! Like… Like… Asparagus and coral!" Jack whirled to face the older pirate, walking backwards and grinning from ear to ear. "They're not even comparable, really, not at all."_

"_Yes, yes, of course."Bill mumbled, having stopped paying attention to what the boy was saying some five minutes ago. He loved the boy, he really did, (in a completely platonic manner, of course) but he could talk the blubber off of a whale, and his side was really starting to ache. "Not at all." _

"_I knew you'd agree with me!" Jack almost squealed with glee and launched himself at his friend/mentor/love. _

_Completely forgetting he was injured, of course. _

_Jack crushed his lips against Bill's, moving with the fervour and passion only a young sex-starved boy can achieve. He'd been dreaming of this almost since before he entered puberty. Bill had saved him, Bill loved him, Bill took care of him. And he took care of Bill, too, as best he could. They were meant for one another. Age difference be aside, they loved one another, and be damned if Jack was going to let a couple of years get between them. _

_Bill was trying to say something. A protest, no doubt, judging by the hands pressing increasingly weakly against his shoulders. And then he wasn't resisting at all. He lay there, letting Jack ravish him. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Jack would really have liked a little participation. If Bill kissed him back, there wouldn't be any more doubt between them. _

_He slid his hands over Bill's chest, remembering how it felt to be held naked against it, rocked gently while Bill sang in whispered French. He wanted Bill to hold him again, to wrap his strong arms around him and pull him close. He wanted him to do something, _anything.

_He moved his hand down, feeling the other man's ribs through the fabric of his shirt. Down to his stomach, the hem of his pants, across to the laces… And then proof, proof of what he'd known all along, proof of what Bill was never going to admit unless Jack made him. There would be time enough for hesitation and shaky hands later. _

_And then something wet and hot and sticky under his fingers, soaking through the already stained shirt. _

"_Oh bugger."_

_Jack had ripped his stitches. _

_Not only was it his fault he'd been hurt in the first place, he'd made it even worse by ripping out his bloody stitches. _

_It wouldn't have been too bad. The wound wasn't all that serious, and they had quite a capable doctor on board. It'd leave a pretty nasty scar, but that was about it. Simple. _

_Or at least, it should have been. Bill had lost a lot of blood, both before arriving at the doctor's and after. The doctor patched him up, gave him some water and all the rum he could drink, and that was it. There was nothing else he could do. Just wait and pray._

_Wait and pray._

_Jack had been forbidden to enter the infirmary. He was forced to wait outside, leaning up against the bulkhead next to the door and trying not to cry. He was the captain, and be damned if he was going to let the crew see him bawling like a babe. He had to be strong. For the crew._

_For Bill._

"_Tis a shame, inn' it?"_

_Jack looked up, understandably startled. Barbossa had found himself a seat on the other side of the door, his outrageous hat temporarily at rest on the floor beside him. He tilted a little silver flask to his lips, looking at Jack out of the corner of his sly eyes. _

"_Poor Bill. He ain't deservin' of this sort of suffering." _

"_No, he isn't." Jack shot Barbossa a wary look. Although it had been almost four years since the tall man had started sailing with them, he still didn't completely trust him. He wasn't the sort of man you trust. "What do you want?"_

"_Me? Nuthin'. I be but a lowly first mate, Cap'n Sparrow. Tis your prerogative to be wantin'." Barbossa put his gangly hand over his heart, as if offended by the very suggestion, all the while grinning beneath his raggedy beard. _

"_What do you mean?" Jack found himself frowning, leaning forward, frightened and worried and all too vulnerable. "Wanting what?" _

"_Why, Bootstrap, o' course." Barbossa grinned his sly grin, nodding his head towards the locked door. "Ye be wantin' him alive, don't cha?"_

"_Of course! " The boy scrambled around to face the older pirate, caught in Barbossa's clever net from the moment he opened his mouth. "But there's nothing I can do! Nothing anyone can do!"_

"_But what if there were?" Barbossa leaned forward, and somehow the scene changed._

_It was no longer a boy and a man sitting against a wall in a tiny little hallway in the middle of a rocking ship. It was close, and secretive, and mysterious, and above all, _adventure._ It didn't really matter what came out of Barbossa's mouth next, it would be prophecy. _

"_Tell me." Jack whispered, barely able to breathe. "What do I have to do?"_

"_What do ye know about the Aztecs, Jack?"_


	53. Chapter 53 Compass

Oh hoh hoh oh hoh HOH!! THIS IS CRAZY!! I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO FINISH A STORY!! No more plot twists, no more epic curveballs of doom, just a nice ending to wrap everything up all pretty and clean. Of course, I'm actually going to have to _write_ the ending. Which will be fun. And what am I going to do when my pirate fix can no longer be satisfied by this epic nonsense?

Sigh.

Ah well. Here's your chapter.

* * *

_Aztec gold._

_Barbossa wanted him to find Aztec gold._ Cursed_ Aztec gold. Hidden on an unfindable island._

_How was he supposed to do that?!_

_Barbossa had explained everything. He'd first heard the rumour in Tortuga, before shipping out with Wilton. He'd been looking for it ever since. The cursed treasure of Cortez. 882 identical gold pieces, enchanted by heathen gods to render any man who took but one immortal. Which seemed like a silly way to curse someone, but you never know with the heathen gods. They're a strange lot, to be sure._

_They could save Bill. Not only save him, but render him; both of them; immortal. _

_It seemed almost too good to be true._

_Which was probably why they were hidden on an ISLAND THAT COULDN'T BE FOUND._

"_BLOODY HELL!" Ignoring the spike of pain as he slammed his fist against the cabin wall, Jack flopped down onto the comfortable, familiar bed that had been his for almost four years. "How am I supposed to find something that's impossible to find?! How do you DO that?!"_

_Feeling the tears prickling at the edges of his eyes, he squeezed them shut and let himself fall backwards onto the soft pillows. _

_Bill was going to die, and it was all his fault. He let Bill get hurt; not only that, he made it worse. And for what? His stupid teenage libido? Bill was going to die because he was horny. How could he ever forgive himself? How could anyone? _

"_Please…" He found himself whispering, not entirely sure who he was even talking to. God, maybe. The world. "Please… help me find the island. Give me a way to find it."_

"_Please…"_

_Something hit him square in the forehead. _

"_Ow…" He grabbed the roughly square object from where it had come to rest on the pillow, sitting up in the bed. "What the hell…?"_

_It was a little box, just a little bigger than the palm of his young hand. It was made of something smooth and black that reminded him of nothing more than the ocean depths at midnight. It was trimmed in silver, like moonlit waves, and caped with a dome of pure Caribbean blue. _

_It was beautiful._

_Carefully, with reverent hands, he flipped it open. It appeared to be a compass, although it didn't seem to be pointing North. In fact, it seemed a little indecisive, flickering between somewhere to the southwest and the general direction of the infirmary. _

_It was a strange piece of clockwork, to be sure, but… Somehow, Jack knew it was exactly what he needed. _

_Unheard, somewhere just this side of the sky, a woman whispered. _

"_Ah, Jack, if only ye had wished de right wish…" _


	54. Chapter 54 The End is Coming

Mwahahahahaha... I hate Barbossa, I really do. And Jack is really, really stupid. This is the last of the past chapters, by the way. So enjoy.

Also, I am now on Gaia as Jiiachan. Come say hi.

* * *

_It was all coming together. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, following the graven path of Destiny. _

_It was almost over._

_The compass spun and darted, leading them forward, towards the end. The island that could never be found loomed distant on the horizon, getting closer with every heartbeat. _

_It was almost over._

_Bill slept, pale and lovely, like something from a fairy tale. Jack kept a silent vigil, watching as his protector slowly faded away, helpless to do anything but wait and pray. Barbossa stood in the shadows, watching and smiling._

_It was almost over._

_A hand on the boy's shoulder, a seductive whisper, a planted idea left to fester and bleed._

"_Why don't ye tell me where we're goin', Jack? That way, ye never have to leave him again…" _

_It was over. _


	55. Chapter 55 Santa Domingo

Bah humbug and damnation. There might very well be another freakin' plot twist. They don't want it to end, I swear. They're conspiring against me actually finishing something.

Anyways.

* * *

Santa Domingo wasn't a large settlement. It had originally been a sugar plantation, pulling the sweet gold out of the rich earth with the blood and sweat of kidnapped Africans. Almost twenty years before, it had been attacked by a crew of pirates and sent into ruin. The owner had gone on to other pursuits, leaving the slaves to more or less run themselves. Now it was a haven for all of pirate-kind, a home away from home for all the misfits and outcasts of the world. It was a Tortuga in the making.

Will walked beside his captain, watching his dark eyes flicker over dirty whitewashed facades, occasional outbursts of jungle, constant drunken revelry. He had the same troubled, hesitant look he got whenever Will pushed a question just a little too far, strained the boundaries of the curse just a little too hard.

Any moment now, the boundaries were going to break, and he was going to remember, if only for a moment. And then it would all come crashing down, and he'd be even worse, although Will wasn't really sure how that could be possible. Will was severely tempted to just knock him out, drag him back onto the ship and keep him locked up until they'd left port and the danger was passed.

But there was something odd going on, something… destined. Something that was meant to be.

Will had learned firsthand not to mess with Destiny.

Jack walked the dirt streets with the ease of a man familiar with the road, the way. He stepped over old potholes, around rocks stuck in the dirt. His feet knew these roads, that much was certain. They dragged him along, shuffling with a strange resignation Will had never seen in him before. His strong shoulders drooped, his head hung low. Suddenly, Jack was no more a pirate captain than he was. He wasn't even a pirate. He looked more like a prisoner, a slave to some force far greater than he could ever aspire to be.

He was defeated.

After some time, they came upon the plantation proper, abandoned long ago in favour of the little shanty town that had cropped up around the port. The buildings had once been quite fine, built of old lumber and forced labour in the traditional British style. Now it was just a tumbledown ruin, slowly being absorbed back into the forest from whence it came. Between the young vandals and the old spirits, it would be gone in less than a decade.

Jack skirted the borders of the main house, following an overgrown path beaten into the soil by day after day of shuffling feet. Will followed him, waiting for the plate to drop, the mirror to smash.

Behind the house, there was a baked clay outbuilding, a barracks designed to keep the slaves apart from their masters. The heavy iron door hung off its hinges, the locks all broken and rusted by rain and time. Animals had been living in it, maybe even the occasional drunk. It smelled awful, of death and pain and suffering.

"I know this place."

The whisper startled him, making him stumble over a set of rusted shackles. Jack had wandered into a cell, cramped and tiny and lined with broken chains. One of the walls had been replaced, not recently, but new enough to be noticeable. It looked like something had blasted a hole in it.

Jack made his way to the window. It was tiny, barred, barely big enough to let the last dim gloom of twilight in. Standing on his toes, he looked out over the orange-tinted jungle, slender hands wrapping around the thick iron bars.

"This is where…" His hands tightened around the metal, his rings grinding against it with a thoroughly unpleasant sound. "This is where I lived."

Will tried to imagine Jack in chains, broken and lifeless the way he had seen slaves before, looking out at the world with dead, hopeless eyes. He tried to imagine Jack imprisoned, truly imprisoned, in his mind as well as his body.

The image wasn't too different from what he saw now.

"You were…" He swallowed, trying to ignore the sick feeling building in his stomach. "You were a… slave?"

"The master raped one of his women." Jack's voice was without emotion, his expression blank. It was like he wasn't really thinking about what he was saying, just saying it without actually understanding. "She tried to get rid of me, but she couldn't. She died when I was born."

He wanted to put his arms around his captain, drag him out of the horrible past. But it was out of his control, now. There was nothing he could do but let this, whatever it was, happen. Just stand back and watch as the pieces fell into place.

"The other slaves hated me. I wasn't one of them. They didn't trust me. And the pureblood whites hated me, too. They didn't want to think about the slaves as human, and that's what I made them do." Jack's forehead hit the clay, his eyes shut against the flood of memories and pain. "I was alone."

Will found himself moving forward, wrapping his arms around Jack's waist, pulling him tight and close and letting him feel his warmth, his heartbeat, the rhythm of his breathing.

"You're not alone anymore, Jack." He whispered, pressing a tender kiss against his captain's ear. "And you'll never be alone again. I'll never leave you. Never."

They stood like that for a long time, watching the light fade and turn into silvery moonlight light out the tiny window. The day faded away and night grew stronger, the moments passing by one by one in a headlong rush towards the future. The room might have been full of the painful past, but that didn't really matter, not any more. Yesterday was over.

Tomorrow was just beginning.


	56. Chapter 56 Sleep

So. It's looking like there are at LEAST five or six more chapters to go. Possibly as much as ten, if they're pissy about it. But I have not been writing recently, and I'm not sure when I'm going to get my mojo back, so from this point forward, I'm going to update on fridays instead of every day. That way I don't end up having an epic long hiatus of random when I run out of chapters.

* * *

The floor was cold, hard, littered with chains and what felt like old bones. Will didn't even want to _think_ about what kind of stains it was going to leave on his pants. Still, a pair of pants was a small price to pay for a night alone in the dark with his captain, curled up against the patched up wall where they would be able to watch the slow break of dawn in the light-shadow of the window.

He'd ever seen Jack so vulnerable, so needy as he was now. Will couldn't honestly blame him. He couldn't even imagine what kind of life he must have lived, chained up in this dirty cage, alone with a dozen other people who hated him just for being born. No wonder he put such high value on freedom.

No wonder he found it so difficult to love.

He didn't cry. Will wasn't sure whether it was good or bad. Either way, he suspected that there would indeed be tears before the night was over.

Something was coming. He could feel it in the air. It felt like the future was rushing towards them, whether they liked it or not. An end was coming, but what manner of ending, he couldn't tell.

To be honest, it scared him. Doubts kept swirling through his head, fears gnawing at his stomach. What if the ending was a bad one? What if it all turned out horribly, exploded in their faces? What if it turned out _well_? He'd come to care about this new Jack almost as much as the old one, come to appreciate the little ticks and insecurities and the general weakness of him. He wasn't scary anymore, wasn't intimidating, and Will wasn't entirely sure he would be able to go back to the old, confidant Jack. He liked being the protector, liked holding his love against his chest and waiting for morning.

He couldn't really see the old Jack going for that sort of thing.

It didn't matter what he thought, what he felt. Not really. He couldn't be selfish, not without betraying himself and Jack. This was about the captain, not about him. This was about making him whole again. And he couldn't deny him that, just couldn't.

Even if it meant an end to them.

He thought he would stay awake all night, rolling the doubt and fear and hope around inside his head until the first light of dawn. He thought he would just sit there, Jack's head propped up against his chest and wait. Even if Jack fell asleep himself, _especially_ if Jack fell asleep himself, he'd stay awake, guarding him. Protecting him from the darkness in his dreams.

No-one really cared what Will thought.


	57. Chapter 57 Dreaming of Ending

Still no pirate mojo.

Anyone who plays Zelda should come and join my RP. Go to Gaia and search "Enter the Void." I need peoplez!!

* * *

_He's watching the sun rise. He can't watch the sun itself, of course. The window's far too high to see, not while sitting against the wall. The light comes in through the bars, though, and he can watch as the beautiful glow slowly covered the mud brick wall of the tiny room, the brightness bleaching all t he dirt and stains and turning it to gleaming white. _

_He likes early morning. He likes waking up before the other and spending a moment alone, sitting together with the only person who really matters, the only person he will ever care about. The person he loves._

_He sighs, snuggling deeper into the warm embrace of his protector, his saviour. He promises himself he would never get used to this, never start taking this beautiful warmth for granted. Just like he will always appreciate his freedom. He has gone without, and now he'll savour every single instant with._

_A shadow appears on the wall before him. It was fuzzy in the bright, but he can still make it out. A bird, tiny, and of a shape different than any of the birds he usually sees flitting around the plantation. _

_He doesn't get up. He doesn't need to._

_He knows exactly what kind of bird it is._

"_I've been waiting for you." His voice sounds odd to his own years. It's too deep, too old. It should be the stuttering lisp of an uneducated slave boy. But that was a long time ago. He's a pirate now, a captain. And he's been waiting._

"_I know, child, I know." The woman shuffles over the leaf-littered floor, the beads on her dress jingling like rain into the open water. "You did na' 'ave to. Ya could 'ave called me."_

"_I know." He wants to stay here forever, in the warm and the calm. But the end is coming, and there's nothing he can do to stop it. "I lost your beads."_

"_I 'ave more." The woman laughs quietly, plucking one of the strings from her skirt and braiding it back into what was left of his hair. _

_For a long moment, there is only the shuffling of cloth, hair against skin and the clinking of metal and glass and stone. Will is still, breathing slowly, calmly. He won't wake up, not unless they want him to. And for the moment, he doesn't. This wasn't meant for Will. _

_The woman sits back on her heels, watching him with her dark oceanic eyes. He puts it off just a little longer, closing his eyes and letting the warmth of Will's body flow through him, comfort him. He could stay like this forever, he really could. But there's no avoiding it, no avoiding the question he has to ask. _

"_You can't save me, can you?"_

_The woman sighs, turns her gaze to her own ritually scarred hands. The weight of her sadness bows her shoulders, makes his breath stop for an instant, makes his heart skip a beat. It presses down on them both, crushing them slowly under the weight of hopelessness._

"_Ye 'ave made a deal wit Davy Jones, Jack. Dere is no escaping from dat." Her hand traces the side of his face, an apology and a goodbye all in one. "You belong to 'im, now."_

"_I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, luv." The fake cocky smile is so much easier than tears, than anger. "I belong to no-one." _

"_Except, perhaps, ta one William Turner?" She smiles knowingly, sad and amused, but mostly sad. _

"_Heh. Except perhaps to him." He can't keep smiling. The weight of their collective sorrow was too much to bear, even for him. But he doesn't cry. He absolutely refuses to cry. "How much time do I have left?" _

"_Not long." She sighs again, fingers tracing the stormy swirls of scars and tattoos. "Six months, perhaps a little longer, if ye run fast enough." _

"_Six… Six months." He can feel the tears burning at the edges of his eyes, but he refuses them, pushes them back and swallows them. "And… Will I… Will I remember him? When I wake up?" _

"_If ye want to." She doesn't touch him, doesn't try and comfort him, and he is infinitely grateful. "Aldough it may be easier on ye bot if you didn't." _

"_No. I'm not making the same mistake twice." He finds Will's hand, holds it tight, trying to ignore the shaking of his own. "I never want to lose them again. Either of them." _

"_Den so it shall be, Cap'n Jack o' da Sparrows." She smiles, presses the cool, damp palm of her hand against his forehead. "May ye be happy for de rest of your days, numbered dough dey may be." _

"_Thank you, m'lady." He feels strangely sleepy, his eyes already drifting closed in the half-light of the dream._

"_Call me Tia, luv." The last thing he sees as he slips away is her smiling face as it slowly fades into waves and storm clouds and reflections in the water. _

_And then he's gone. _


	58. Chapter 58 Wrap your arms around me

Ah hah hah... Fire alarms at 2 in the morning! Awesome plan, guys, awesome plan.

* * *

Will was never entirely sure what really happened that night.

He fell asleep with Jack in his arms, vulnerable, needy Jack, who was Jack and not Jack and whom he loved, no matter who he really was.

And when he woke up, Captain Jack Sparrow was holding him.

"Mornin', luv." The Captain's deep, husky drawl whispered, his lips almost brushing the shell of his ear. "Sleep well, I take it?"

"Jack?" He tried to twist in the older man's arms and discovered that he wasn't so much as sitting up against Jack's chest as encased by him, trapped by a cage of gangly limbs and sheer bravado. "You're… You're you!"

There really was no mistaking it. The hair might have been gone, the khol out for a stroll, the hat and the bandanna and the beard all unaccounted for, but it was him. It was really him.

How he got his beads back would remain a mystery.

"Well, of course I'm me! Who else would I be? You?" Jack laughed, tightening his arms around him and burying his face in the crook of his neck. "Sorry for the confusion, mate. Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"But… But how?" Will somehow managed to turn himself around, kneeling between Jack's long legs, the man's arms draped around his shoulders. "I mean, you… It just got worse, and… Huh?"

"Heh. Let's just say I've got some friends in high places an' leave it at that, eh?" Jack's familiar, beautiful laugh, tainted with something he almost called sadness. "There's no point in askin' questions that can't be answered nicely."

Will stared at him for a long, long moment. A million thoughts, a million fears, a million doubts ran rampant through his head. There were so many things he didn't know, so many things he couldn't even begin to guess at. So many questions.

But in the end, none of them mattered.

Not now.

He wrapped his arms around Jack's neck, held him tight, and swore he would never let go ever again.

Not until the day he died.


	59. Chapter 59 Won the bet

At this point, I realized that Anamaria hadn't really shown up since Will arrived and tried to rectify the situation.

Still no mojo. Sorry, guys.

* * *

Anamaria was beginning to feel a little left out.

Ever since the Captain and her whelp had started to see eye-to-eye again, she'd been practically useless. Oh, she'd done her share of work. She ran the ship all by her onesies while the two of them were having their long romantical talks in the Captain's cabin. She was practically the Captain herself by now. Of course, the Pearl would always belong to Jack, but that didn't mean she couldn't find herself another ship to sail. She'd just about had it with all the drama.

Of course, that would mean leaving the Pearl, and she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for that yet. She still hadn't settled the bet with Elizabeth yet, for one thing.

Still, sitting in port and waiting for the supplies to be loaded and her amnesiac captain and his lover boy to return, she couldn't help but take a gander at the other masts nestled in the tiny bay. There were some damn fine ships out there, damn fine ships.

"ANAMARIA! What in the name of Calypso's frilly knickers are you doing ogling other vessels?! The Pearl will be jealous."

At first, she didn't know who it was. He walked like Captain Sparrow, talked like Captain Sparrow, smirked outrageously like Captain Sparrow. He looked a little plain for Captain Sparrow, but nothing that couldn't be remedied by a new hat and the heavy application of eyeliner. But Captain Sparrow wasn't Captain Sparrow anymore, he'd forgotten himself. So it couldn't possibly…

"CAPTAIN!! YER BACK!!" Marty's tiny frame almost knocked the grinning man over, latching onto his leg like a small child determined to prevent their parent from setting off into the sunset ever again. "Finally, no more monkey business!"

"MONKEY BUSINESS?! There has been _monkey business _upon my ship?! Blasphemy!" Jack pried the short pirate off his leg, attempting to scowl in mock anger and completely ruining the effect with the singularly brightest grin Anamaria had ever seen. "Mr. Gibbs, I expect an explanation!"

"'Pologies, Cap'n." Gibbs scurried over, obviously resisting the urge to hug the grinning man in favour of slapping him on the back hard enough to make him stumble all over again. "Tis good ta have ya back, Cap'n. The crew was worried, fer a while there."

"I'm flattered." Jack let himself look genuinely grateful, just for a moment, and then he was all business, storming across the deck to take his rightful place at the helm. "Alright, you dogs, let's get this ship shipshape, savvy?! Back to work, ya mangy curs!"

Anamaria just stood there, gaping at her captain as he proceeded to get the entire crew back under his dirt-stained thumb. She suddenly found Will standing beside her, watching him take command as easy as breathing with a strangely sad expression.

"It's amazing, isn't it? It's like nothing ever happened." He sighed, smiling with sorrowful eyes. "Just when I was starting to get used to the weird him, too."

"I… He…" Anamaria just shook her head, deciding just to accept the circumstances and move on from there. She had a feeling she didn't really want to know. "He's a strange man, ta be sure."

"Hm." Will pushed his hand through his hair, seeming somehow so much older than his twenty years. "Strange indeed. Oh, and Anamaria?"

She turned to him, suddenly disconcerted by the strange little smirk that had found its way to his lips.

"It wasn't anywhere near a week, and there weren't any candles involved, but it was still on shore, so I suppose you one the bet."

And then he walked away to join his captain, his friend, his lover, before she could think of an adequate way to respond.

Elizabeth was not pleased.


	60. Chapter 60 Something's wrong

To those of you who have put up with this second hiatus...

I love you all. Seriously. Every last one of you. Thank you so much for putting up for me.

That being said... I am determined to finish this now. This needs to be finished, whether I like it or not. So get ready for some serious ending business, k?

See you there.

* * *

"Will! Oh, Will, I'm so happy for you! And for Jack, obviously. Although I have to say, he was slightly less irritating when he was still afraid of me."

"Hm… He's changed a lot, hasn't he? We all have, I suppose…"

"… Will? What's wrong?"

"… Nothing. Nothing at all. I mean, what possibly _could_ be wrong? I got everything I ever wanted, didn't I?"

"… I sense a 'but'."

"… Something's wrong, Elizabeth. I don't know, maybe it's just me, maybe I just got used to him being… not him. But… Now he's, he's not _here_ anymore. When he was, when he was different, he talked to me, he told me what he was feeling, and even if he didn't, I could still _tell_. I could tell when he was sad, or, or, I could _tell_. And now I can't tell anymore, it's like he's just shut himself off, closed himself up and now all this happy-go-lucky bullshit is just, it's just him distracting us, you know? Distracting us from what's really going on. It's all just a show, just a show to make us thing he's better, but he's not really better, he's just… I don't even know. I don't even know."

"… You know, I don't think I've ever heard you swear before."

"Elizabeth, _please!_"

"Please what? Please smack you right upside your pretty little head? Because I will, if that's what you want. Really, Will, why can't you just be happy? Jack's back, he's the way he's always been! And he loves you! Damn it, Will, if I were even half so lucky…"

"Oh, don't start, Elizabeth. This isn't even _remotely_ the same! I'm genuinely concerned about him, and you're, you're making this all about us!"

"There is no _us, _that's the entire _point!_ You don't think _I _was genuinely concerned, when my fiancée decided to go chasing after a smelly, rum-guzzling pirate hooligan?! WHO IS ALSO A MAN?! Good God, Will, you know what I think? I think you are absolutely determined to be miserable! Every single time we somehow, magically manage to get a happy ending, you decide that that's just not good enough, that's just not what you want anymore, you have to have something else, something equally unattainable! This isn't about Jack, or me, or anyone else! This is about you, Will. This is all about you."

"… Get out, Elizabeth."

"Oh, what, just because you don't want to-"

"OUT! GET OUT! NOW!"

"Fine, fine, no need to get all pissy, you silly fool! I'm going!"

"… There's something wrong. I know it.'

"There's something wrong."


	61. Chapter 61 Before you even know it

Waki 61

Holy buggery fuck. I'm actually finished this story.

Well, not really. I still have to publish it all on here. But I'm done writing it.

This.... This is absolutely epic. It's just... It's never happened before. Just... Wow.

And I like the ending, too. It makes me happy. It was originally set to make me very, very sad, but it didn't, which surprises me. I'm usually the queen of angst, after all.

Just so you know? There may very well be more. I really want to write the kids now.

And without any further explanation, here you are. I'll post a chapter a day until it's done for real. Expect it to end on Monday, unless I screw something up.

* * *

Will had everything he'd ever wanted.

Jack was back to the way he'd always been. He had his old swagger back, his old slur, the mischievous glint in his eye. He was Captain Jack Sparrow again. And he seemed to want nothing more than one more bottle of rum, a clear blue horizon, and Will. In his bed. Every single night.

Not that Will was complaining. He enjoyed being with Jack as much as Jack enjoyed being with him, and as much as the crew hated them both. He didn't think that waking up in his Captain's arms would ever get old.

But something was wrong.

Jack had an almost neurotic obsession with freedom. In all the time he had known him, almost everything the man did had the ultimate aim of getting him free of whatever was holding him back and keeping him that way. He wasn't exactly a poster boy for commitment. It was just part of his nature, drifting from one thing to another, wherever his heart took him.

Now he was suddenly clinging to everything with an iron grip.

And it wasn't just to Will, although that was certainly the most obvious example, considering the amount of time he'd spent away from the captain in the past couple of days could be counted in minutes. He seemed to be bound and determined to make everything stay the same, to freeze the Pearl in a single instant of pirate frivolity. He drank outrageous amounts, sang bawdy pirate ballads and Elizabeth's quaint little ditty all day long, dragged Will into the cabin whenever at all possible. It was almost as if he were trying to fit as much fun as he possibly could in the shortest space of time possible. It got old very quickly, especially when he began passing over easy merchant ships in favour of another round of Bones.

Most of the crew assumed he was just trying to make up for lost time, perhaps reassure them somehow that he was indeed the same care-free, fun-loving Captain they'd signed on under. And maybe that was part of it.

But there was more to it, and it absolutely infuriated Will that Jack wouldn't let him in.

In the end, there was nothing to do but give it time. Let things get back to normal. Let the real Jack, the Jack whose smiles were real, the Jack who wasn't afraid to be afraid, to come back to him. Nothing to do but wait.

He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

A week passed. And then two. And then a whole month, and another, and another.

And then, before he even knew they were living on a deadline, their time was up.


	62. Chapter 62 Out of Time

Mwa ha ha... Right around when I was writing this, I started thinking "Well, crap. This is going to end really, really badly." And then I couldn't decide whether to do this one first or the next one, because technically the next one comes first, chronologically speaking, but this one was written first, so... Yeah.

I'm just going to post them both at the same time. ^.^

* * *

Will woke up sore and happy, warm in the Captain's bed, under the Captain's sheets. Jack had been especially… urgent the night before, drawing near to him again and again until neither of them really enjoyed it. Eventually, Will had just collapsed onto the bed, demanding rest and sleep and hopefully something halfway decent to eat before even _thinking_ about another round. He had passed out into a dreamless slumber with Jack's arms wrapped around him, whispering something in what sounded like really, really bad French.

He somehow found the energy within himself to roll over, drape his arms around Jack's strong shoulders and possibly suggest that breakfast could wait for at _least_ ten minutes.

Except Jack wasn't there.

He jerked himself upright, biting back a yelp at the not-quite-unexpected pain in his rear. The black-haired pirate was nowhere to be seen. Normally Jack waited for him to wake up, or woke him up himself if there was something going on. In the whole six months they had officially been together, he'd never once woken up alone.

Something had obviously happened. Something was going on. He knew it, he'd known it all along. From the very start he knew, he _knew_ something was wrong. He should have pressed it harder, should have _made_ Jack tell him what it was. But now it was too late.

They were out of time.


	63. Chapter 63 Choices

Waki 63

Jack was tired.

He wanted to go to sleep so badly, just close his eyes and drift off with his beautiful lover wrapped in his arms. As if nothing was wrong.

But he only had a short time left, and be damned if he was going to squander even a moment of it.

He'd considered running. Davy Jones couldn't get him on land, not if he went in deep enough. But he couldn't do it. The sea was his home, and he couldn't just give it up. He'd be as much a prisoner as on the Dutchman. A prisoner of his own fear.

He was too proud for that.

And so he stayed, waited. Waited for Davy Jones to take his soul.

He had tried to get out of it. He'd dragged the crew all over the Caribbean, talking to holy men and witches and shamans and priests. No-one could help him. Most of them thought Davy Jones was a myth, a legend. Those that did believe advised him to accept his fate as best he could. There was no escaping the Dutchman's reach.

He suddenly found himself regretting every decision he'd ever made.

Will didn't deserve this. Will deserved happiness, forever and ever. He deserved a beautiful, loving wife, a nice house, and six lovely children. Not six months with a drunken pirate who'd sold his soul to the devil to be rid of him.

He should have pushed Will away, let him deal with the heartbreak early instead of ripping him apart later. He should have waited for him, for just a little longer. Just a few more days, and it would have been fine, would have been perfect.

He never should have told Will about his feelings to begin with.

He could have been happy. He had Elizabeth. He had his shop. He had everything he'd ever wanted. And then Jack had to go and ruin it for him, all because of a stupid crush.

More than a crush, really. Because Will was Bill's son, and he'd never… They never…

Over and over again, he brought the Turner family heartache.

It was his fault. It was all his fault. Every bad thing that'd ever happened to Will had been his fault. Bill's death. The cursed coin. Elizabeth's capture, the Pearl's rampage.

He deserved this. He deserved to be carted off, forced into servitude for the next hundred years. He deserved to suffer.

Carefully, carefully, he slid out of the warm bed. He placed one last, gentle kiss upon Will's forehead, remembering that day so long ago when he had brought Will's happy little world crashing down around his ears.

"_Well, young Mr. Turner, that was a kiss. You see, it is something people do when-"_

He'd meant to say, 'when they luv each other,' but Will had cut him off. He had gone on to make a complete fool of himself, pouring out his heart and probably creeping Will out just a little with the bit about his father. He thanked his lucky stars Will had forgotten about it, as he really wasn't looking forward to trying to explain exactly what happened.

But in the year since that day, things had changed. _He_ had changed. He knew that a kiss was so much more than just an expression of love or lust.

It was a promise. A promise of tomorrows, of quiet mornings and gentle evenings. Of gentleness and kindness and love, and more kisses, lots and lots of kisses.

It was a promise of devotion, true, unflinching devotion, for the rest of your days.

Jack wished he didn't have to break it.

He turned his back on his lover, turned his back on happiness and hope and love, and walked out into the dark, bleak future, alone.


	64. Chapter 64 I always loved him

This chapter made me really sad to write. This was when I still thought it was all going to end horribly. -.-' Poor Anamaria.

* * *

The crew knew something was happening.

It was impossible to miss. The sea practically screamed it, as shot full of anger and torment and wrath as any of them had ever seen it. The sky boiled overhead, sending bright forks of lightning arcing through the air. It didn't rain, although they had a feeling that it would, later on, when everything was said and done. For now, though, the water remained bound tight in the black clouds, and the fury of the storm around them just built and built.

Anamaria wasn't really surprised when the ship came surging up out of the water. She had seen Davy Jones in the bar after all, way back in the very beginning. It seemed like so long ago, now, but at the same time, it wasn't nearly long enough.

It could never have been long enough.

The crew readied themselves for battle. Most of them didn't really know what was going on, only that the ship was in dire need of defending. Those who had been told the truth over the last year, or those who had guessed, prepared for a different sort of defence. They would protect their captain, and the happiness he had found, with their lives if it came down to it. He deserved that much, after all he had done for them.

Anamaria calmly loaded her pistols, packing the gunpowder down tight. Gibbs stood next to her, filling his ever-present flask from an actual glass bottle of rum.

"This bottle o' rum," He caught her looking and held up the bottle, grinning from ear to scruffy ear, "cost me two an' a half months o' hording ta buy. I've held on ta the damn thing for twenny three years. Bout time I drank it, don't ya think?"

"Heh. What is it with men and rum?" Anamaria shook her head, packing down the last of the wadding and slipping the loaded weapon into her hip holster. "Give me a taste, eh?"

"Aye aye."

The bottle changed hands, and she took a sip of the red-gold liquid.

_Damn_, that was good stuff.

"Ye know…" Gibbs leant forward against the railing, watching the Dutchman cut through the roiling waters towards them, closer by the second. "This is exactly how I figured I'd go out."

"Really now, Mr. Gibbs?" Anamaria laughed, then stopped almost immediately. This wasn't laughing weather. "What about that little tavern you were always talkin' about buyin'? Dyin' drunk in your sleep?"

"Ah, feck and fantasy, s'all." He gave a dismissive wave, scoffing at the very idea. "I'm a sailor at heart, and the think 'bout sailors is they always die at sea. Either that, or they weren't never really sailors, if ye catch my meaning."

"Aye, I think I do."

The Dutchman pulled up along the port side, the monstrous creatures of Jones's crew hauling up thick, seaweed tangled mooring lines and heaving them over onto the Pearl's deck. The crew hacked away at them, sent them tumbling back into the sea, but they couldn't get all of them. Some of them caught, and stuck, and the two ships were slowly and inevitably drawn together, alone in the vast, angry ocean.

"I always loved him a little."

The grizzled old man shot her a look, scoffed, took a drink from his bottle of twenty three year old rum.

"We all loved 'im, girl. That's the sort o' man he was."

"You know what I mean. I could have been happy with him, Gibbs."

"… Aye. But could he have bin happy with ye?"

They didn't talk again after that. There was never enough time, not until it was all over and done with, and by then it was too late. There was nothing left to say.

That they were already talking about Captain Jack Sparrow in past tense never occurred to either of them.


	65. Chapter 65 Mutiny and Mayhem

This chapter depressed me for about two hours. And then Davy Jones showed up and I couldn't help myself. ^.^

* * *

By the time Will got himself dressed and up on deck, the battle had already begun. The crew didn't stand a chance, not against these immortal creatures of the deep dark depths. These beasts had had a hundred years to prefect the art of killing, and despite popular believe, pirates aren't really known for their incredible swordsmanship. They spent most of their time avoiding fights rather than actually fighting them.

Gibbs and Anamaria were back to back on the upper deck, toe to toe with a hammer-head shark and a man who appeared to be a conch. Marty had got himself up on in the rigging and was distracting the fish-folk with some well-aimed shots. He had no idea where Cotton was, but the parrot had flown to the safety of the crow's nest, right alongside Jack the Immortal Monkey. Jack occasionally threw random bits of junk at the oncoming invaders, with varying degrees of success.

Jack was nowhere to be found.

He was about to turn around and nab his sword when he found that very blade being pressed into his hands. He looked up to find Elizabeth, grim and bloody and as beautiful as she'd ever been.

For a moment, he thought about kissing her.

For a moment, he thought she might kiss him.

And then the moment was over. They didn't love each other anymore, not like that. He took his sword from her hands, and they emerged out into the fray, fighting side by side as they had in that cave of poisoned gold, so long ago.

They couldn't kill the creatures, that much was obvious. For the most part, they were already dead. But as they fought, it became increasingly clear that the creatures didn't really want to kill them. In fact, unless they were directly attacked, they left the crew alone.

Slowly, they pushed the crew back onto the aft deck, grouping them together along the railing and hemming them in with a wall of swords and claws and sharp shark teeth. The lop-sided battle was over, almost before it had begun. Most of the crew was ok, battered and bruised and angry as all hell, but fine none the less. Cotton was still missing, although there was blood on a near-by railing and what looked like fingernail scratches. Gibbs had been shot, but if his cursing and hollering were any indication, it was barely a flesh wound.

No-one talked about Jack.

The thump echoed through the floorboards like some sort of demonic heartbeat. It drew closer and closer, a steady thump-scratch, thump-scratch across the Pearl's bloody deck. The circle of snarling monsters drew aside, and the leader of them all stepped in to fill the gap.

Will had never seen Davy Jones before. He'd never really believed in him, not really. Not even with all the business with Jack. There couldn't _really_ be an octopus man, he'd thought. It had to have been some sort of metaphor, some sort of euphemism for his ties with the sea and all its slimy inhabitants.

He was so, so, _so_ sorry he was wrong.

Davy Jones surveyed the motley crew, rheumy blue eyes meeting theirs one by one. There was death in those eyes, cold and cruel and unfeeling. There was no compromising with those eyes, not really. There wasn't room.

"Which of ye be Turner?" The man bellowed, his slimy lips fluttering in distaste as he spoke Will's last name.

"What do you want with him?" Elizabeth shot the myth a glare worthy of Artemis herself, all venom and wrath. "Shouldn't you be after someone else? Captain Jack Sparrow, for instance?"

"Bah!" Jones turned and spat, his tentacles curling and jerking almost irritably. "Would it be that ah'd never laid eyes upon that insufferable little ape of a man! Now, tell me which one of ye be Turner, afore I unleash all holy hell upon ye!"

"Um…" Will blinked, stepping around Elizabeth and ignoring her hissed curses. "Do you mean to say that you've already _got_ Jack?"

"… Yes. Yes, I do. Unfortunately." Jones grumbled, scrunching his face into a damp scowl. "That… Would be why we're here, actually."

It was odd. He seemed almost… Humbled. Abashed. It might have been comical, if it weren't for the rather disconcerting numbers of sharp instruments pointed in their general direction.

"Wait… Don't tell me you're here to give him back!" Elizabeth laughed, her hand to her mouth.

"He won't bloody well shut up!" Jones whirled on her, half angry beastie of the sea and half indignant child, and in an instant, Will knew that it was true.

"Wait, so you're actually going back on your deal?" He gapped at the, dare he say it, pouting fish- man, not entirely sure whether to be horrified or overjoyed. "You're going to give him back, just like that?"

"He tried ta hold a mutineh!" Davy threw up his hands, claw and tentacle alike snapping open and closed as if throttling an certain imaginary Captain. "He was only on the ship four bloody hours and he tried ta hold a mutineh! He thinks he's king o' the whole sodding ocean!"

"If ye were goin' ta return 'im to us, ye shoulda jus' said so!" Gibbs roared, throwing his hip flask in Jones's general direction, knocking the conch man's head off due to a fortunate mixture of blood loss and having previously emptied the flask of its contents. "Ye wouldn't a had ta shoot me! Or Cotton, God rest his poor mute soul."

"Well, ah had ta shoot something!" Davy's scowl deepened, and a well-placed kick at the conch man's crawling head with his peg leg sent it screaming overboard, down into the deep. "I couldn't very well shoot 'im, now could I? Asides, the crew was gettin' antsy. Things ain't what they used ta be out there, ye know. Folk don't b'lieve in our kind any longer. There's not a lot of action these days."

"So ye _shot_ me?!" Gibbs stared at him incredulously.

"Only a little!" Jones grumbled, crossing his arms over his damp chest. "Now, will ye take him back or no?"

There wasn't a single soul on board who didn't shout "Yes!".

Except the parrot, of course. The parrot shouted "Wind in the Sails" instead. But of course, that meant the same thing, near as they could figure.


	66. Chapter 66 The End

And... The final chapter.

In this story, at least. ^.~

Thanks to everyone who's read this far. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did.

* * *

Will smiled, watching the sleeping faces of his god-children in the flickering candle light. He'd never had Jack's flair for story-telling, and even after all these years, he still hadn't gotten much better. He was the only person he knew who could make a battle at sea into a bed-time story.

He eased up out of his chair, careful not to wake them. Joshamee especially was quite a light sleeper, and Martin was rather prone to nightmares. He didn't blame the poor boy. He'd met his name-sake once, and ever since he'd been almost desperate to gain inches.

He glanced into the girl's room next door, trading nods with their mother as she continued on with her own tall tale. Little Maria was already fast asleep, but Anna gave him a sleepy wave.

He found James and Jack in the study, respectively sipping or chugging their various alcoholic beverages in silence. It had been quite awkward for a long, long time, until Elizabeth had made it perfectly clear that either James could at least be civil and stop trying to arrest him every time they got together or find himself another wife, father of her as-of-yet unborn child or not. The two had eventually become quite accepting of one another, if not outright friends. The pardon helped, of course, as did James's rather… Unexpected dismissal from His Majesty's Royal Navy. It turned out the two had more in common than either would have ever admitted.

He took his seat next to his lover, gladly taking the drink Jack had ready for him from the Captain's weathered hands. James politely looked away while he gave the older man his thank-you kiss. Will absently wondered when it would stop bothering him. Probably never, knowing Norrington.

Elizabeth joined them soon after, and Will found himself doing the exact same thing. Maybe it was awkward, no matter what gender you were.

Jack, of course, just laughed at them both.

"You know, I saw Cotton the other day." Elizabeth remarked, taking a sip of her spiced rum with a smile.

"Really, now! And how's the old coot doing, then?" Jack laughed, leaning forward. Will took the opportunity to run his fingers through his long black hair, absently working out the tangles that were already starting to form. He swore, the man had to be deathly allergic to brushes, the way he avoided them.

"Just fine, although they're calling him Bailey these days. You were right, you know. There are a surprising number of people who will pay good coin to watch a parrot talk for a mute in a dress."

"That never was fully explained, was it?" Will swirled the remains of his rum around the bottom of the glass, watching the candle light bounce of the crystal. "Why he was in a dress, I mean."

"Pfft. Just because it wasn't explained to _you, _doesn't mean it wasn't explained." Jack scoffed, grabbing the bottle from the table and filling both of their glasses. That his was already almost full was totally irrelevant.

"You know what? I don't want to know." Will laughed, sipping the top off his drink before it spilled. "Whatever makes him happy, I suppose."

"To whatever makes Cotton happy!" Jack raised his glass in a toast, looking at the younger man by his side with an all too familiar smirk. "And to what makes us happy, too."

The glasses chimed like bells.

"Of course, there is the matter of what he was doing in Elizabeth's quarters when he should have been up fighting for my life, but that's besides the point, isn't it?"

"JACK!!"

She stood outside the window, looking in at the light and warmth and happiness the little family had managed to create. She had always hoped for exactly this for her precious little one, although she would have liked to have had the grandchildren be hers.

Still, his happiness had been hard bought, and she wouldn't change it for the world.

"Do ye tink dey'll ever figure it out, love?" She shifted her eyes, looking at the man's reflection in the glass. In the glass, he was still a man, still the man she had loved, so long ago.

"Bah. They're jus' mortals." Davy Jones scoffed and shook his head, slowly so as to not tangle his tentacles. "They wouldna know the world o' Gods if it were starin' 'em in the face."

"Hm. Who are ye callin a God, ye great useless lump of calamari? Surely not yerself!" She shot him a stern look over her dark shoulder, pleased to see him shrink back into the night. "Ye were da one who made de mess in da firs' place!"

"How was I supposed ta know he was yer kin!?" He raised his arms before him, more defensive than anything. "There inn't exactly a fam'ly resemblance, ye know!"

"You of all people should have recognized 'im, Davy Jones!" She waved a finger at him, other hand cocked against the swell of her hip. "It be a shameful ting, when a man don't even see 'imself in 'is own child."

The dread captain paused for a long moment, quite a bit more taken back than she thought he had any right to be. It should have been obvious, even to a dolt like him. But then again, he'd always been a little slow. It was what she like about him, she supposed.

"Wait… Ya mean to say that… That insufferable little man… is mah son?"

"Yes! Who's son did you tink 'e was?!"

"I, well, you… Really?"

She sighed and shook her head. One day, they'd have a proper family reunion. One day, she'd actually talk to the man her son had chosen to spend the rest of his long, long life with. One day soon, she promised.

For now, however…

She was going to have a long, _long_ talk with her husband about how babies worked.

Inside the manor house, in the warm light of the fire, Will's fingers found the beads still twisted into his lover's hair and smiled.

The End.


End file.
